Wahine turn up the heat in AZ

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96th minute, Hawaii 1, Arizona State 0 — GAME. Raisa Strom-Okimoto put aside a series of near misses — her winning ball was her eighth attempt — when she got far upfield on a breakaway, dribbled to the left goalpost then fired to the far post past the ASU goakeeper and in. UH earns its second straight road win, including the first over a Pac-12 opponent since 2013.

END REGULATION, START OF FIRST OT

89th minute, Hawaii 0, Arizona State 0 — Strom-Okimoto has a golden opportunity to put UH up with a minute left, but her low shot with good velocity shoots left of the far post. The keeper wasn’t gonna stop that one if she’d managed to get it on frame. The teams go to OT.

85th minute, Hawaii 0, Arizona State 0 — Shot count stands at 17 apiece. Mata’s had to make some nice saves (she’s up to six) to keep it scoreless.

59th minute, Hawaii 0, Arizona State 0 — Sonest Furtado wins a counterattack ball and dribbles up to about 8 yards and fires a great look, but it’s straight at ASU’s Panas for the save.

HALF, Hawaii 0, Arizona State 0 — UH has a couple of close chances by the ASU net in the final seconds of the half but can’t convert. Shot count stands at 10-10, with four for each team on frame and four saves for Lex Mata and Nikki Panas.

30th minute, Hawaii 0, Arizona State 0 — Sounds like it’s not as hot in Tempe as it could’ve been. I’m sure no one is complaining.

25th minute, Hawaii 0, Arizona State 0 — Rainbow Wahine doing a reasonably good job possessing and creating opportunities. Raisa Strom-Okimoto had UH’s best look thus far but fired it high from close and to the right. A couple others fired from distance went right at ASU keeper Nikki Panas.

10th minute, Hawaii 0, Arizona State 0 — UH back line takes a hit as center back Cristina Drossos is helped off the field after what appeared to be an aggravation of her right knee sprain that caused her to miss a game earlier this season. Kiri Dale comes in for her.

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The Hawaii soccer team hopes cooler heads prevail when it takes on Arizona State today in the scorching nighttime heat of Tempe, Ariz.

Temperatures are projected right around 100 degrees for the 7 p.m. (Mountain Time) kickoff. UH (3-4) has that to contend with in addition to the usual travel fatigue, plus a Pac-12 opponent in ASU (2-3-1) playing on its home turf of Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.

“We’ve never been in that kind of temperature,” UH coach Michele Nagamine said Thursday in a phone interview from Tempe. “We’ve had some pretty hot weather like when we go to Davis … but for the most part, having to deal with the elements and the really dry heat, it’s not something we do all the time. So there will be a little bit of an adjustment, but I think we’ve prepared well. We’ve been hydrating … trying to take care of our bodies before we get to the game. At least that way we can set ourselves up for success.”

You can watch live (starting 4 p.m. HST) here. UH follows up against recently fully transitioned D-I member Grand Canyon (3-4-1) on Sunday.

UH is coming off a 2-0 win at Idaho State in its last official game 10 days ago, salvaging a three-game road trip and snapping a four-game run of shutout losses. (The Wahine then put on their alumnae exhibition on Sunday, drawing 3-3.)

“After the alumnae game, getting everybody some minutes, I think there’s some good attitudes and approach to training this week,” Nagamine said. “I was really happy with the progress that we made.”

UH plays its fourth and fifth straight road games this week, then must deal with contests at UC Davis and Long Beach State to open Big West play next week.

So, why the gauntlet?

“The theme of the 2017 schedule is ‘payback,’ Nagamine said with a laugh. “This season we owed three games in Washington and Idaho, (and) we owed two games in Arizona. Grand Canyon is coming out next year.”

Recruiting is another reason UH is venturing to the desert.

UH has an Arizona native on its roster in freshman Izzy Deutsch (Desert Vista High, Phoenix), who’s been an up-and-coming regular for the Rainbow Wahine. The program last took a trip to the Grand Canyon State in 2013, losing 4-1 at Arizona and winning 1-0 at Northern Arizona.

UH last beat a Pac-12 team on the road earlier that same 2013 season, when it pulled off the head-turning feat of winning at Oregon and at Oregon State in succession, 1-0 apiece.

This time, UH attended an Arizona Diamondbacks game at Chase Field against the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.

#HawaiiWSOC Team bonding at the Diamondbacks ⚾️game! pic.twitter.com/xdq0a3BMXE

— Hawaii Wahine Soccer (@UHWahineSoccer) September 14, 2017

After ASU, UH will face Grand Canyon — a former Division II Pacwest for-profit school that’s thrown gobs of money into its athletics programs. It’s projected to be another triple-digit-degree game, Nagamine said.

Interestingly, Pac-12 teams like Arizona State have refused to play the Antelopes, who latched on with the WAC, in anything other than exhibitions.

“I think Grand Canyon is going to be a program like ours,” Nagamine said. “Building, looking to find that identity. With our team, at any time we’ve got four or five freshmen on the field and they’re getting lots of really good minutes.”

UH is without midfielder Lei Medeiros and sophomore forward Tia Furuta. Senior midfielder Spenser Jaye and freshman defender Sadie Lutz traveled in their stead.

Note: Corrected from an earlier version that said freshman defender Taylor Mason was unavailable instead of Furuta.