WAIPAHU, Hawai'i – Hawai'i Pacific University closed the 2019 season in grand fashion on Saturday evening beating Holy Names 7-1 in PacWest Conference play at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
 
The Sharks (9-7-1, 6-5) never trailed the Hawks (1-14-3, 1-8-2) and dominated in nearly all phases of the match on Senior Night.
 
HPU came hot out of the gate hot, racking up four unanswered goals in the first half of play. It was the sophomore Brittany Ihara of Pearl City, Hawai'i/Pear City who started the rally in the 23rd minute. Freshman Mya Tolentino of Waipahu, Hawai'i/Waipahu dumped a long ball to senior Ebony Madrid of Porterville, Calif./Ramstein who carried the ball to the far right side of the box and crossed a high ball to Ihara for kick home.
 
Seven minutes later in the 30th minute of the first half it was Madrid again who crossed the ball well over the heads of the defenders to sophomore Tehani Furuta of Mililani, Hawaii/Millilani on the far left side. Furuta dished the ball to sophomore Hunter Malaki of Pearl City, Hawai'i/Pearl City who fired a rocket to the top left corner making it 2-0.
 
Only minutes after, Madrid hit a picturesque give and go with senior Emily Lemus of Fontana, Calif./Etiwanda who cranked the ball past the HNU keeper on the left side.
 
The Sharks weren't done yet. In the 35th minute, it was junior Nina Gonzales of Palmdale, Calif./Knight who did some fancy footwork at the top of the box and managed a gorgeous shot in the top right corner finalizing the half at 4-0.
 
In the second half, it only took HPU two and a half minutes to strike again. This time it was Madrid adding a tally to the board off a rather weird occurrence. She took a shot that was blocked by a Hawk defender, and another HNU player was racing back a little too hard for some help clearing and the shot deflected off her shin into the back of the netting.
 
The shutout was broken by Holy Names in the 53rd minute as a midfield free kick led to a perfect scoring opportunity in the keeper's box by Kristen Phillps who easily one touched the free kick passed the keeper making it 5-1.
 
In the 62nd minute, Madrid was fouled from behind inside the box, but she was unable to take the kick so the senior defender Maia Angell of Spokane, Wash./Lewis and Clark filled in and faked the keeper to the left side for goal number six.
 
The final HPU goal came in the 64th minute from Gonzales again as she took a deep pass from Lemus to the far right side and it passed just over the Hawk's keeper.
 
HPU senior goalkeeper Gretchen Berkey of Grants Pass, Ore./Grants Pass faced five shots with a save and advances to 3-3-1 on the year.
 
HNU's senior keeper Alyssa Lopez was peppered with 31 shots recording 7 saves and finishes the season at 0-3-2.
 
The Sharks bid Aloha Oe to six seniors this year and improved on their 2018 record of 6-6-6.
 
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