All other factors aside, such as home or away, level of competition, good or bad weather, one statistic jumped out at you in a difficult season for the Hawaii-Hilo men’s soccer team.
Heading into Saturday’s Pacific West Conference match against Dominican — a battle that separated two of the bottom three teams in the conference — the Vulcans had managed three first-half goals all season against 18 by the opposition. Enough of a minus-15 deficit like that over an extended period of time can break a team into little pieces.
Enough was finally enough for the Vulcans (2-5 in conference, 3-9 over all), who rode two first-half goals to a 3-0 win over the Penguins (1-6, 1-11), that provided them with their first win streak of the season and their second consecutive clean sheet following last Thursday’s 1-0 double overtime win against BYU-Hawaii.