TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona women’s soccer team defeated Hawaii 4-1 Friday night at Murphey Field at Mulcahy Stadium.
The Arizona (5-1-3) offense came out ready to play, with Hayley Estopare scoring the first goal for the Wildcats in the first minute off an assist from Jazmin Ponce. Just two minutes later, Ponce scored off a free kick.
“I thought we started the half strong going up 2-0 within five minutes,” Arizona coach Tony Amato said. “We took our foot off the pedal for a few minutes and they started getting into the game and that caused us some problems and went 2-1.”
Hawaii’s Kama Pascua scored in the 17th minute to record the only goal for the Rainbow Warriors. In the 23rd minute, Ponce scored her second goal of the night, her sixth of the season. The only goal of the second half came from sophomore Hannah Wong in the 52nd minute.
Arizona outshot Hawaii (3-4) 20-12, with Ponce leading the team with seven shots, three on goal.
“The last 15 minutes of the first half we were really composed and controlled and that carried on through the rest of the match,” Amato said. “We are happy with it overall. We knew it was an important game since it’s the last one before we kick off the Pac-12 and we really wanted to win it and we are proud of the girls for the effort they put in tonight.”
In net, goalkeeper Gabby Kaufman recorded a total of six saves while Rainbow Warriors keeper Monk Berger recorded five saves on the 20 shots she faced.
