PHOENIX – The Hawai’i women’s soccer team battled but came up short in a 3-1 season-opening loss at Grand Canyon in a match that began Thursday night but was suspended until Friday morning due to severe weather.
Before play was halted Thursday night, the ‘Bows fought off a couple of good chances by GCU over the first 10 minutes, but the Lopes struck first with a goal from the top of the box in the 11th minute to make it 1-0. Inclement weather in the Phoenix area suspended play in the 27th minute, with the match resuming at 10 am local time Friday.
The ‘Bows (0-1) had a couple of chances following the resumption of play Friday morning, but could not capitalize on a pair of corner kick opportunities. GCU (1-0) took a 2-0 lead into the half behind a breakaway goal in the 39th minute.
Lauren Marquez made a number of heads up plays in the first half to minimize damage, snagging a pair of dangerous crosses and coming out of the goal to stop a breakaway while also adding a save.
Hawai’i again had some good scoring chances coming out of halftime, and Krista Peterson finally broke through with the first goal of the year for the Rainbow Wahine in the 50th minute by scoring off a cross by Zoe Park to cut the GCU lead to 2-1.
The ‘Bows continued to turn away a number of GCU chances down the stretch, but the Lopes added to their lead with a goal in the 77th minute to make it 3-1.
A trio of freshmen made their first career starts in the opener, as true freshmen Penny Noland and Park got the nod on the Bows’ back line and redshirt freshman Amber Gilbert got the start up top.
Peterson’s goal was the second of her UH career while Park recorded her first career assist and Kelsey Sumida dished out the third of her career. Sophie Augustin entered to play goalie to start the second half and finished with four saves in her first action as a Rainbow Wahine.
The Rainbow Wahine close out their season-opening road trip Sunday at Arizona State at 4 pm HT on the Pac-12 Network.