CSUN women’s soccer took on the University of Hawaii Thursday night in what was CSUN’s third Big West match of the year. It was a dead tie until late when the Rainbow Wahine struck late crushing the Matadors spirit.
In the 80th minute redshirt junior goalkeeper Riley Liebsack made her sixth and final save of the night, keeping her perfect night intact and keeping a good offense in check.
Just one minute Hawaii senior midfielder Mia Foster subbed in and little did she know the moment she was about to bring to the Rainbow Wahine.
As Foster controlled the ball for Hawaii (7-6, 3-0) she looked to make a play, and that she did. Setting up sophomore forward Tatum Porter for a shot just outside the box. Porter struck the ball and guided it just by the diving arms of Liebsack into the bottom right corner of the net.
As the Rainbow Wahine celebrated and rejoiced the Matadors were faced with a familiar feeling as just two weeks prior they were dealt the same fate against the University of San Diego, and that was conceding a late goal with just under 10 minutes to go.
“We turned the ball over in the middle third of the field and one of our midfielders went to try and win the ball back, she didn’t win it,” said head coach Gina Brewer. “They were able to play it to a forward who took a touch and we were not able to block it, it was a good quality placement of a shot. It wasn’t the defending we were looking for in the middle third of the field; we needed to be more patient in that situation.”
The Matadors (3-9-1, 1-2-1) had a spec of hope in the very last minute of the match as they had a corner opportunity. Liebsack was even sent in from her goal post to add an extra player for the offense.
When the corner was sent in it was deflected out right to a Matador and chipped back into the box to senior midfielder Ashly Torres who sailed the ball over the goal ending any chances the Matadors had left.
These Matadors had their opportunities all night having attempted nine shots; neither of those were shots on goal.
The Matadors had two corner kick opportunities in a span of four minutes in the second half but were not able to get a shot attempt out of either, with both being cleared with ease by Hawaii.
In the 34th minute CSUN was on the attacking end when redshirt freshman Jordyn Canister found a lane and scorched the ball, it was too good to be true as the freshman put just a bit too much into the kick hitting the top crossbar just inches away from putting the squad on the board.
Outside of the big three moments from the game, Hawaii dominated early within the first 10 minutes of play but the teams were nearly even in terms of possession as the game went on.
The two teams combined for 16 fouls as well with Hawaii leading the way with 10.
“We knew it was going to be a very physical battle, Hawaii was going to bring a lot of pace up top, they have the most shots attempted in the Big West actually. And unfortunately they were able to get one towards the end of the game,” said Brewer.
Hawaii came into the match riding a four game win streak with this win extending it now to five and staying undefeated early in conference play.
The Matadors look to flip the page quickly as they get the opportunity to host UC San Diego (2-9-2, 0-3-1) on October 6 at 7 pm Sunday afternoon. CSUN looks to grab a win and snap a mini two game losing streak, as the Tritons will come into the game having lost their last four games.
“We just think we are better than what our performances have been, we have seen some really good things from this team over the season. But, it’s about the consistency over the full 90 minutes and that’s what we are looking for, a consistent product,” said Brewer.
