Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's soccer team dropped its second consecutive tough 1-0 loss on Sunday, this time against visiting Hawai'i Pacific University. The Lady Penguins (2-3-0/0-1-0) had one shot hit a post and another strike the crossbar in their Pacific West Conference season opening loss to the Sea Warriors (4-1-0/2-0-0).

“I thought it was a winnable game for us,” said Director of Soccer Jonathan Delano. “I thought we had a good game plan going in and I thought we did a good job of executing it. I thought we created some scoring opportunities. Two off the post.”

A Julianna Bratsberg shot in the first half struck the inside of the far post and bounced out and a Shayna Elkins' header in the second half hit the crossbar. Three minutes later, Sanoe Souza scored an unassisted goal from 20 yards for HPU after her corner kick was punched back to her by Dominican goalkeeper Megan Herring. Souza's shot was a perfectly placed upper V far post goal.

“Other than a goal that they had on a breakdown of a set piece, everything they had was from distance and that's what we wanted going into the game,” said Delano. “Megs controlled the game very well. That goal they scored, no one gets that. It was a pretty unbelievable shot.”

In the scoreless first half, Herring handled the Sea Warriors' three shots on goal and center defender Megan Hanson was on the spot to prevent any other serious scoring opportunities by HPU.

The Lady Penguins pressed in the latter half of the first half. With 10 minutes to go, defender Katie Brown played a beautiful ball from the back to Bratsberg, who stayed onside and dribbled in on Sea Warriors goalkeeper Carianne Makino, who made a sprawling save on Bratsberg's shot.

Six minutes later, Bratsberg had an even better chance to score, but her shot from the right side of box struck the inside of the far post and came out. Teammate Lexi Humphry couldn't quite get to the rebound to tap it into the goal.

Early in the second half, Dominican's pressure continued. Elkins was in the box when she headed a ball that struck the cross bar and bounced back into the box. But no Dominican player could put a foot on it.

While Dominican couldn't capitalize on its chances, HPU didn't miss its best chance. Souza's goal came with 28:14 left in the game.

“Credit to HPU. They're pretty gritty. They work extremely hard,” said Delano.

The Lady Penguins played with a sense of urgency the rest of the way. Brown had some terrific  throw-ins from the side and freshman Kendra Corsberg had a couple of shots from distance but Dominican never had another excellent scoring opportunity.

Dominican is off until next Sunday, September 25, when the Lady Penguins go on the road to play two games in three days against California Baptist University in Riverside, the newest member of the PacWest.