Soccer shoots for winning streak

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Cal State Northridge 2, Hawaii 1, FINAL

FINAL — Matadors prevail in come-from-behind fashion, with all goals scored in the second half. The visitors outshoot the hosts 18-12 on a windy Sunday at WPSS. Cynthia Sanchez’s counterattack score in the 69th minute is the game-winner.

89th minute — Wahine knock the ball around for about a minute in the CSUN penalty box area but are unable to get a clean shot off.

80th minute — And again. Sanchez tries to head the ball in from point-blank range but Mata anticipates. She’s up to six saves.

79th minute — Sanchez nearly puts in another with some Furtado-esque footwork, but Mata is there with a sliding tackle save.

75th minute — CSUN continues to pressure the UH D. Unless the Wahine get something going in the next 15 minutes, you can count them out of the Big West tournament race again.

69th minute — CSUN 2, Hawaii 1. Things have totally flipped around here over the last 10 minutes. Cynthia Sanchez works her way upfield on a counterattack and flicks the ball over the UH D and Mata with the outside of her right foot.

60th minute — Hawaii 1, CSUN 1. The lead is short lived as Marissa Favela heads in a cross from Destinney Duron at close range, lofted over a leaping Mata.

59th minute — Furtado nearly adds to the damage as she gets loose in the box on a cross. McCaskill is on this one, however.

54th minute — Hawaii 1, CSUN 0. GOAL as Lillie French strikes from about 10 yards on a quick give from Sonest Furtado, and UH is in business. It’s the first career score for the sophomore French. She booted it at a perfect angle over the arms of McCaskill and into the underside of the crossbar.

49th minute — UH dodges a couple of hand ball calls in the box (probably could have been whistled) but then the UH D gets called for a regular foul in the penalty area. PK attempt by Sylvia Trinh is a soft shot to the left post and Lex Mata is all over it. Another bullet dodged.

46th minute — Second half underway and things are still quite windy. This half CSUN must deal with the headwind.

HALF — Scoreless. Northridge leads 9-5 in shot attempts, with each team putting one on frame. The closer calls have definitely been around the UH goal, however. UH used only three subs in that half: Sarah Lau, Lillie French and Tia Furuta. That’s compared to nine for CSUN.

39th minute — Northridge’s Sylvia Trinh gets yellow carded after Furtado gets tripped up for the second time in a couple minutes.

34th minute — CSUN nearly scores on the run after taking it away from the UH back line, but Mata gets just enough of Marissa Favela’s shot to have the ball trickle out of bounds just wide of the right post.

22nd minute — Sarah Lau nearly heads one in on a set piece lob from Cristina Drossos, but a Matadors defender has keeper Jovani McCaskill’s back and heads it away near the back post.

20th minute — The Matadors’ Marissa Favela nearly gets a corner kick to bend in, using the wind, but Alexis Mata is there to corral it just below the bar.

19th minute — CSUN’s Amber Edemann goes down getting tangled up with Lei Medeiros, looks to be in some pain, and has to be helped off the field.

16th minute — Raisa Strom-Okimoto cranks one from the top of the box on a give from Furtado for UH’s first attempt. Decent look, a little high.

13th minute — Approaching the 15 minute mark and UH hasn’t yet registered a shot attempt (to three for CSUN). However, Sonest Furtado has been in the vicinity on a couple of runs.

4th minute — CSUN has a scoring chance nullified by an offsides call. There’s a drizzle coming in from the mauka side of the pitch, being blown here from pretty far away thanks to the wind.

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Sonest Furtado rallied the Hawaii soccer team to a much-needed come-from-behind 2-1 win over UC Santa Barbara on Thursday. Can the Rainbow Wahine (6-7, 1-3 Big West) keep it going against Cal State Northridge (6-4-5, 2-1-1) today at the midpoint of the league schedule?

This game, unlike the previous two, is not being televised. It’s a 1 p.m. kickoff, but it’s not as hot as it could be out here because of a good breeze. In fact, it’s pretty windy.

UH is hunting for just its third winning streak since joining the Big West in 2012. (Both of the previous two streaks were two games.) Its biggest obstacle to success today could be CSUN goalkeeper Jovani McCaskill, the reigning BWC player of the year at her position. She shut out UH in a double-overtime loss at Northridge in the 2016 season finale.

CSUN is coming off a 1-0 win over previously unbeaten UC Riverside (3-1) on Thursday.

Furtado has been on a roll since late in the nonconference season. Her 12th and 13th career goals against UCSB — the first and second of her Big West career — moved her into a tie for 10th on the UH all-time list. She has six this year.

Here’s the updated list going into Sunday:
1. Natasha Kai 72
2. Arlene Devitt 36
3. Ambree Ako 30
4. Taryn Fukuroku 27
5. Tiana Fujimoto 23
6t. Jennifer Starsiak, Kelli-Anne Chang 18
8. Veronica Flores 17
9. Tricia Nishikawa 15
10t. Chelsea Deptula, Sonest Furtado 13