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Boise State made its final Western Athletic Conference soccer trip to the islands a memorable one.
The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine, meanwhile, will toss last night’s 4-0 home loss to the Broncos on the rapidly growing "forget under all circumstances" pile.
UH (2-9-1) sought a strong start in the WAC opener for both teams before a gathering of 416 at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium. Instead, it fell victim to a series of breakaway attacks by the Broncos (4-7-1), as the Wahine went down three goals by halftime.
Pinsoom Tenzing’s frustrated squad needs a quick shift in fortunes with 9-3 Idaho licking its chops for a 5 p.m. matchup at WPSS tomorrow.
"We gave up too much space behind the last line of defense. Not enough pressure on the ball, and those things are bound to happen," Tenzing said. "We just weren’t awake today. It’s going to be a long WAC season if this continues."
Or a short one. UH needs to finish in the top six among nine WAC schools to make the WAC tournament.
In the last meeting between the teams as WAC members — BSU leaves for the Mountain West Conference starting in the 2011-12 academic year — the Broncos ended a three-game losing streak and won for the first time in six meetings in Hawaii.
BSU senior forward Shannon Saxton recorded a hat trick for her first three goals of the season as the Broncos posted their highest score of the year.
UH tried to trap the Broncos attackers offside in the early going, and it worked … the first few times. Then BSU broke through repeatedly.
"It takes a couple times to see what (UH’s defenders) are going to do," BSU coach Steve Lucas said. "We talked to some midfielders about running through, and peeling a little bit so they didn’t get caught offsides. They did a great job of finishing.
"We wanted to win here not maybe because it’s the last time we’re coming, but because we knew how tough it is to win here."
Not lately. UH is winless over its last seven matches, and has been outscored 29-1 over that span.
"We definitely need to be more offensive-minded," said UH senior midfielder Mari Punzal. "It’s just one loss; we’re definitely not out of it yet (in the WAC)."
