Hawaii took care of business on the road, and is back in business in the Big West Conference soccer standings.
Freshman goalkeeper Monk Berger recorded her school-record sixth shutout of the season in a 0-0 double-overtime draw at Long Beach State on Sunday, giving the Rainbow Wahine a valuable point toward postseason qualification.
Berger survived a penalty kick off the post in the 69th minute and had a couple of difficult stops among her five saves in the 110-minute decision.
"It was absolutely amazing. It was one of those games where they could have scored three times. Monk Berger was out of her mind," UH coach Michele Nagamine said in a postgame phone interview. "She came up huge. In my opinion, she should be the (BWC) Defensive Player of the Week. If I could, I would nominate our entire back line and defense.
"They were phenomenal tonight."
UH (7-7-1, 2-3-1 BWC) needs a top-four finish to qualify for the BWC tournament. Right now, the Wahine are tied for sixth place, but only league leader Cal Poly (5-1) is guaranteed to finish higher than UH, which has two games remaining at home.
UH went 1-0-1 on its two-game road trip to UC Davis and LBSU, a big improvement on its recent history. UH had a miserable 0-6-1 Big West road record over the last season and a half.
Berger surpassed Kori Lu, Erin Chow and Mahie Atay, who held the UH record of five solo shutouts in a season.
UH had to work hard for the result. The 49ers outshot UH 17-8, including 9-2 in the second half.
UH played without its second-leading scorer, Kama Pascua, who was red-carded in a 2-0 win at Davis on Thursday.
Even a draw at LBSU (8-5-2, 2-1-2) is something of a victory for UH, which was blanked a combined 8-0 in two losses there in the past two years.
"I am so proud of them. They showed a lot of guts tonight," Nagamine said. "There were times where Long Beach had a tremendous amount of momentum and we just found a way to make it happen.
"This was a very, very big step for us."
The Rainbow Wahine improved to 4-3-1 on the road this year, against a 2-4 mark at home against Division I competition.
"I told some of the parents tonight, I think (our players) are trying to kill me," Nagamine said. "I think they’re trying to get me to dye my hair once a month. The gray hairs that I got tonight, oh my gosh."
Up next is UC Irvine (3-2) at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium on Thursday in a single-game week.