Despite a couple of valiant responses, the Hawaii soccer team ultimately met a deflating defeat at Nevada on Sunday.

UH equalized twice but fell 3-2 at Mackay Stadium when the Wolf Pack converted an 88th-minute penalty kick, sending the Rainbow Wahine (2-6-1) back to the islands smarting from another fruitless road trip. The Rainbow Wahine (0-4 on the mainland) fell 3-1 at UNLV on Friday.

“We just can’t catch a break. Today we actually had that rhythm and that connection that I haven’t seen in a long time,” coach Michele Nagamine said in a postgame phone interview. “So, we’re scratching on the door and I think we’ve definitely taken our lumps in (nonconference) play and I think (the players) are finally at the point that they’re tired of it. It’s frustrating because we’re not getting the results that we sometimes feel we deserve, but that’s nobody else’s fault but ourselves.”

It was a physical contest that saw seven yellow cards. Five were issued to UH, including two to defender Sarah Lau. Lau’s second yellow came in the game’s final moments, what Nagamine called “bogus — really a bad call.” By rule, Lau will miss UH’s next game, a home contest against BYU-Hawaii on Thursday.

UH had two forwards, Tiana Fujimoto and Justine Olotoa, hampered by pregame sickness. The team was still without striker Kama Pascua (red card suspension) and starting goalkeeper Monk Berger (concussion). Backup goalkeepers Erica Young and Alexis Mata each worked a half.

Nevada (3-4-1) posted a season high in goals.

In what Nagamine described as a “blazing hot” afternoon on the same field used by Nevada’s football team, the Wahine refused to wither after going down a goal on a header in the box by Brianna Bosson in the 39th minute.

Midfielder Raisa Strom-Okimoto had UH’s first goal of the game on an unassisted blast from about 30 yards out which carried over the head of Nevada goalkeeper Kelsey Quintos. The freshman’s first score of the season tied it at 1-1 in the 63rd minute.

Nevada’s response came from ’Iolani alumnus Nikki Mitsuyasu, a redshirt freshman who missed most of last season due to injury. Mitsuyasu tapped the ball past Mata to the far post from a wide angle in the 65th minute. It was her first career goal.

“I thought Nikki had a great game today. It’s nice to see the Hawaii kids representing,” Nagamine said.

UH’s Dani Crawford scored her team-high second goal of the year on a Storm Kenui corner kick with under four minutes to play, knotting it at 2-2. But the game-winning goal came less than a minute later, when defender Paige Okazaki tackled a Reno player in the box and earned a yellow card. Hannah Wuensche converted a penalty kick past Mata, who guessed the wrong direction.

“It was a legitimate penalty kick,” Nagamine said. “(The referee) made the call and that’s the way it goes. But it was very unfortunate because we had momentum. I’m pretty confident that if we had gone into overtime, we would be on the other end of it.”