WAIPAHU, Hawai'i-- A 79th-minute goal from freshman Chloe Peepgrass gave the Roadrunner women's soccer team an opportunity to come back late against Hawai'i Saturday night. After creating several close chances in the final minutes, CSU Bakersfield was unable to find an equalizer and fell 2-1 to the Rainbow Wahine.

“I couldn't have asked for any more from the team tonight,” said Bakersfield's head coach, Gary Curneen. “We dealt with a couple of setbacks and stayed in the game. It was nice to get rewarded for our good work with the goal from Chloe and I thought we deserved to tie the game up with our pressure in the last 20 minutes. Our team is finding out that the margins between victory and defeat at this level are very small and this is crucial to our growth as a team before entering conference play.”

The Rainbow Wahine opened the scoring in the 19th minute on the rainy night in paradise. A corner kick sent in from Storm Kenui found the head of Kellsie Gleason to give the goal scorer her first of the season and Hawai'i a 1-0 lead.

A second goal for the 'Bows came 11 minutes into the second half when a deflected ball bounced around in the 'Runner box. Sophomore forward Dani Crawford came up with the ball and finished in the corner for a 2-0 advantage.

The young Roadrunner squad never quit, applying pressure often in the final twenty minutes of the match. Peepgrass found herself in the middle of a scrum in the six-yard box and managed to and put it past the keeper to cut the deficit in half. The goal was the freshman's second of the year as she also found the back of the net in the season opener against Humboldt State.

Redshirt senior goalkeeper Tori Ornela played well for the 'Runners, maintaining a steady footing on a slippery night in the Hawaiian rain. The native of Lemoore, Calif. used her quick reflexes to reject would-be goals for six saves on the night. Ornela's all-time CSUB record total for career saves (279) continues to grow as she inches closer to the 300-save plateau.

CSUB (1-4-1) will return to Bakersfield for a few days to strategize for this weekend's trip to Colorado. The 'Runners will open the weekend with a match against Colorado College Friday afternoon before traveling to play Air Force on Sunday.

~GoRunners.com~