HONOLULU – The last time Point Loma was in town to face the Chaminade University women's soccer team, the Silverswords pulled off the biggest upset in program history.
The circumstances from that Oct. 27, 2016 game and the match-up at the Saint Louis Field pitch on Saturday were similar with the Sea Lions sitting in first place of the Pacific West Conference in both instances. Except this time, the 'Swords had the motivation of doing it on Aloha Senior Day.
However history would not repeat itself as Point Loma came away with the 2-0 win, spoiling the 'Swords' final home game of 2018.
PLNU's Julia Glaser scored her PacWest-leading 11th goal of the season in the 23rd minute after the 'Swords were whistled for a handball in the box. Sarah Steinhaus added an insurance goal in the 72nd minute. The Sea Lions maintained their grip of the PacWest lead with a 7-0-1 mark while sporting a 12-1-1 overall record.
Despite the setback the team celebrated the careers of six seniors, all of whom spent four years wearing the royal blue and white.
Two of them, forward
Caitlin Tatemichi (Honolulu/Roosevelt) and goalkeeper
Brandee Lane (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Castle) set numerous program records throughout their careers.
Tatemichi owns most major offensive records including career standards in goals (14), points (31) and game-winning goals (4), single-season marks in goals (9) and points (20) as well as single-game records for goals (4) and points (8).
Lane holds most defensive numbers including career wins (8), career shutouts (6) and is on pace to set the career goals against average mark to which she currently owns at 1.89.
Nicole Nishiki (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani), who scored the goal in the Point Loma upset of 2016, actually spent five years with the program which included a redshirt year in 2015. Until her season-ending injury against Biola, she started all 55 games of her career with her 4,905 minutes played ranking her fifth all-time among position players. She also has the fastest goal in program history when she scored just 52 seconds into a match at Hawai'i Hilo in November of last year.
The trio in addition to fellow seniors
Bianca Gonzales (Kapolei, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Kapolei),
Megan Mararagan (Honolulu/Kalani) and
Alyssa Tanigawa (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Castle) were all part of the greatest back-to-back seasons in program history when the team won a combined seven games from 2016 to '17.
The Silverswords (1-8-1, 0-6-1 PacWest) will close out the 2018 season with four matches on the road starting Wednesday at Fresno Pacific.
