HILO, Hawai'i  – The Western Washington University men's soccer team concluded its Hawaiian road trip with a 3-2 setback against the University of Hawai'i Hilo on Sunday afternoon in non-conference play.
 
The Vikings dropped to 2-5-0 overall, going 1-2 on the road trip, with the defeat to the Vulcans playing in wet and sloppy conditions at Hall Stadium, which doubles as the UHH baseball field. The Vulcans evened their season mark at 2-2-0.
 
"It was very difficult today with the weather conditions. It was not much of a soccer match today, just a battle of the 18-yard box," said WWU head coach Greg Brisbon. "Credit to Hilo. They had a great first goal and they had a good defensive scheme that at times was difficult to break."
 
Hilo opened the scoring in the 9th minute when Alexander Hernandez-Herbach took a long ball from Bo Antonissen, and fired a perfectly-placed shot across the length of the box into the upper right quadrant for his first goal of the season.
 
WWU held an 8-5 advantage in shots in the first half, but were held off the scoreboard with the Vulcans leading 1-0 through the first 45 minutes.
 
UHH made it a 2-0 contest in the 58th minute when Caesar Hjerten headed home a corner kick from Kalei Tolentino-Perry.
 
The Vikings cut into the two-goal deficit in the 74th minute when junior Gus Diehl scored his second goal of the trip (and his career). Diehl, who moved from his normal midfield spot to defender after the Vikings lost senior center back Camron Miller to an injury, gathered a loose ball in the box off a corner, and finished with the outside of his foot to push the ball through traffic to the lower right corner of the goal.
 
Working hard to find the late equalizer, the Vikings gave up a goal in the 89th minute with another long through ball finding Tom Vorkastner, who beat WWU goalkeeper Brandon Wolter one-on-one with a strong finish to the upper right corner.
 
Fighting hard until the end, the Vikings drew a foul in the box, and senior Drew Farnsworth converted the penalty kick to bring the final score to 3-2 with his team-leading third goal of the season (12th career goal)
 
WWU held a 15-12 edge in shots during the 90-minute contest, but Hilo has a slight 6-5 lead in shot on target.
  WWU (2-5-0) opens GNAC play next week with road contests at Northwest Nazarene (Thursday, 9/30) and Saint Martin's (Saturday, 10/2). The Vikings are three games into a stretch of five consecutive road games, which will be followed by a season-high five-game homestand October 9-30.
 
"We now turn out focus and attention to our second season, and for us the most important part with the start of GNAC play," said Brisbon.