UH forges tie on senior night

Senior night went by in a blur for senior Alyssa Simbahon and the Hawaii women’s soccer team.

Simbahon put in a 69th-minute equalizer from 40 yards out despite obscured vision from a shifted contact lens, and first-place UH scrapped for a 1-1 tie against San Jose State on Sunday night at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

"I didn’t even see it go in," said the smiling 5-foot-3 defender, one of seven players honored in postgame senior festivities. "I sliced my hand against my eye, so (the lens) was off. That’s when I knew, when the crowd was (cheering)."

In UH’s final home game in the Western Athletic Conference, the Wahine played catch-up from the opening moments, after SJSU’s Lauren Sanchez scored from 25 yards out just 2:23 into the match.

A vocal crowd made its presence felt late in the match, when the Rainbow Wahine and Spartans jostled at every turn for potential game-winners.

"(The early goal) caught us a little bit by surprise. We knew they were going to come at us hard," first-year UH coach Michele Nagamine said. "We were pretty exhausted from Friday night (a 3-0 win over Fresno State) and it spoke volumes about our determination as a team and rallying together."

Double overtime — a full 110 minutes — wasn’t enough to decide a winner, but the Wahine remained in first place in the WAC at 3-1-1 (10 points) with two road games to play.

After missing the past two WAC tournaments and being picked to miss it again in the preseason poll, the Wahine (4-10-1 overall) continue to surprise. They entered WAC play with a 1-8 record, but now the worst they can do is an even record in the WAC. A WAC tournament berth is all but assured.

Besides Simbahon — who put in her first career goal — Brittani Lum, Kaylee Kihara, Tiffany Ikeda-Simao, Colleen Burns and Keisha Kanekoa were honored. So was Lauren Ho, the forward who was not on the roster but came to all home practices and games after being denied an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA.

After a foul by SJSU (3-10-1, 1-1-1) Simbahon’s free kick cleared a scrum of players in the box and one-hopped over SJSU goalkeeper Meghan Maiwald.

SJSU coach Jeff Leightman shook his head about the tying ball going in untouched from so far out.

"I feel like we missed a bunch of chances to extend our lead and put it away earlier," he said. "They play so emotional at home, their senior night, we knew they were going to be really up for the game."

Skye Shimabukuro had UH’s best look in the overtime periods, but her blast coming out of a cluster of players in the penalty box was saved.

Junior goalkeeper Kanani Taaca made a midair game-saving block at near point-blank range with 14 minutes left, preserving the tie.

The Wahine had to make do with mounting injuries. Most notably, starting midfielders Rachel Domingo and Alexis Colacchio were out. Senior defender Burns was moved up to forward.

UH has a week off before heading to the road for its final two matches of the regular season.

The Wahine play at New Mexico State on Oct. 28 and at Louisiana Tech on Oct. 30, then open the WAC tourney on Nov. 3, if eligible.