Hawaii’s Big West Conference tournament hopes were undone in about three seconds.
That was the length of official game time that elapsed between penalty kicks awarded to UC Davis in the first half of UH’s home finale on Friday night. Goalkeeper Erica Young saved the first PK, but UH was immediately whistled for a another foul on the rebound in the penalty box. Young was unable to stop the Aggies’ go-ahead goal on the second chance as the visitors won 2-1 and eliminated the Rainbow Wahine from postseason contention.
The Rainbow Wahine competed for the full 90 minutes of their senior night at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium. UH (6-10, 1-5 Big West) outshot Davis 13-5, but still absorbed its fourth straight defeat.
"I don’t even know what to say," UH coach Michele Nagamine said. "It’s just been that kind of season. Time and time again. I think we have the run of play, I think we have the majority of possession. We create some really good opportunities, and it’s just been that kind of season. Every game I’ve ever stolen off somebody else came back and bit me in the butt this year."
UH dropped to 3-7 at home and took its first loss in its home finale since 2006. It was 5-0-2 in the previous seven senior nights.
Outgoing players Krystal Pascua, Ashley Haruki, Hayden Gibson, Alexis Colacchio, Korinne Estrada and Olivia Stanford were honored with traditional senior ceremonies afterward.
"I felt like I pretty much left it all out on the field," said Pascua, a four-year starter. "I wish we could have got one (more)."
Sophomore Storm Kenui had UH’s goal, her team-best sixth of the season, to tie it up at 1 in the 27th minute.
"It’s mixed emotions. There’s people that are sad, people that are still fired up," Kenui said. "But there’s nothing we can really do about it now. … I felt really close to all of (the seniors) because I felt they brought the team together with a positive attitude."
Even if the Wahine win their final two games of the season, road contests at UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge, they won’t have enough points in the standings to finish in the top four and qualify for their first Big West tournament.
Davis (5-10-3, 2-3-2) got on the board first in the 17th minute when Lindsey O’Tousa fired from 25 yards out and over the head of Young.
"I just thought that things were falling for them a lot," a lei-clad Haruki said. "They only got one shot on goal in the first half and it went in. Unfortunately things didn’t go our way."
Ten minutes later, Kenui’s rocket shot from 20 yards was partially blocked by UCD keeper Taylor Jern but was too hot to handle, and the ball trickled past the goal line and in.
The deflating blow came in the 31st minute, when a Davis player was fouled in the box and awarded a penalty kick. Young made a great diving save on the PK — the only problem was, the ball rebounded to an Aggies player, who was subsequently fouled from behind in the box.
Ana Marija Sola made good on UCD’s second penalty kick in a two-second span of game time, and the Aggies carried a 2-1 lead into halftime.
"The first one I thought was justified," Nagamine said. "The second one, you’ve got to question the thought process there. I mean, two penalty kicks within 10 seconds of each other, that’s just ridiculous."
UH players also felt the officiating was inconsistent.
The Wahine spent all 45 minutes of the second half hunting for an equalizer that never came. The best attempt came in the last 10 minutes when Madison Reed had a cross from point-blank range to Kama Pascua that never connected.
