Moon lights up Hawaii

A Moon shone brightest in the Hawaii soccer team’s season opener against the Arizona State Sun Devils.

ASU freshman midfielder Aly Moon orbited effortlessly around the Rainbow Wahine’s retooled defense for much of Sunday’s Outrigger Resorts Shootout contest at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium, notching a hat trick and an assist in the Devils’ 5-2 rout.

With athletic director Ben Jay in attendance, the first UH sporting event of the 2014-15 calendar went decisively the way of the visitors.

UH had three new starters on defense and got its first in-game taste of generating offense without senior Tiana Fujimoto, who is redshirting with a foot injury. The last time UH allowed five or more goals at home was in a 6-2 loss to No. 2 Stanford on Aug. 23, 2009.

The Wahine must turn around quickly for Monday’s 5 p.m. match against Texas (0-0-1) to conclude the tournament. Texas and ASU played to a 2-2 draw on Friday.

Fourth-year coach Michele Nagamine wasn’t overly concerned afterward. She drew some solace that her team scored first (Alexis Colacchio) and last (Lauren Takai).

"Well, we knew Arizona State was a good team, but I don’t think they’re that many goals better than us," Nagamine said. "I’ve said … that we were probably going to take some cracks early on. And I think some kids were thrown in the deep end of the pool tonight. I think we kind of did that, ‘glub, glub, glub,’ sink a little bit, but they came out swimming and that’s the main thing."

The Wahine won road matches against Pac-12 teams Oregon and Oregon State last season, one of several reasons for optimism heading into the 2014 season. ASU returned the favor and then some for its power conference.

Numerous defensive breakdowns, several self-inflicted, bedeviled the UH back line, which had to replace three veteran starters from last season. Sophomore keeper Monk Berger was beaten several times.

"I think we picked some holes in them … and were able to attack their backs," said ASU’s Moon, who tied the ASU single-game scoring record. "I think we did well."

The Waipio Soccer Stadium was bedeviled, too. The primary WPSS scoreboard is broken and the backup display brought in by UH also malfunctioned in the second half, meaning the game was completed on the head official’s time. And the field was worn and patchy, drawing the ire of coaches of all three teams in the tournament.

Despite all that, UH got off to a good start. The senior co-captain Colacchio gave UH a quick 1-0 lead in the eighth minute, scoring from straightaway about 16 yards out on a cross from fellow captain Krystal Pascua.

Colacchio made good on a start in place of suspended sophomore Kama Pascua due to 2013 red cards. The younger Pascua sister will be back in action Monday.

"Coach Bud’s been preaching to us, ‘get chance,’ so you gotta take that chance," said Colacchio, who scored her third career goal and first since her sophomore season. "(From there), I don’t think we lost it; it’s just kind of our communication was a little off. Moments we needed to press a little harder. It’s all a learning experience, it’s just our first game."

After that it was all Devils (1-0-1). Moon scored and assisted on goals to give ASU a 2-1 lead at halftime, then put in two more on Wahine defensive breakdowns to put the match away by the 67th minute.

Takai, a sophomore reserve, scored her first career goal on a putback of a shot by Storm Kenui in the match’s final seconds, making the final margin a little more respectable.

UH dropped to 0-4 in season openers under Nagamine.