The long ball made it a long night for the University of Hawai'i women's soccer team, which fell to Cal State Northridge, 2-1, in the Ohana Hotels & Resorts Soccer Invitational last night at the Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

A crowd of 314 watched the Matadors (6-4-0), who defeated Detroit, 2-1, in overtime Saturday night, win the tournament. Hawai'i finished second and Detroit third.

"Out of 10, I'd give them a 6," Hawai'i coach Pinsoom Tenzing said of his Rainbow Wahine (6-3-2), who lost their first home game since the season opener. "This was way below their capabilities."

Kristal Phillips and Kristy Krohn scored for the Matadors, who improved their series record against the Rainbow Wahine to 4-2-0.

Phillips scored in the fifth minute on a long ball from Nalena Betancourt. Phillips shot the ball over goalkeeper Kori Lu from near the top of the 18-yard box.

Hawai'i sophomore forward Taryn Fukuroku scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on a header from junior Koren Takeyama. Fukuroku controlled the ball before placing a low shot under goalkeeper Kellie Drenner with her left foot.

"The header was good but I chest (trapped) it bad, so I kind of had to make up for it," Fukuroku said. "I was trying to aim for the back post."

Northridge took the lead for good on Krohn's goal in the 79th minute on an assist by Tessa Binkley. Binkley passed to the left to Krohn, who took the ball to her left and made a move on Lu before shooting into the open goal.

Hawai'i's plan going into the game was to use a full-team trap, where every player, starting from the forwards, would put pressure on the opponent and the players behind would shift accordingly. It was designed to deny the Matadors time to play with the ball and send long passes to rushing forwards. At times all field players for both teams were playing within 30 yards.

But the plan failed when Hawai'i "didn't have the diagonal runs by the supporting fullbacks," Tenzing said. That usually allowed the Matadors one-on-one situations after balls were sent over the Hawai'i defense.

"We were just playing high, trying to keep their forwards up," Tenzing said. "We wanted to restrict their field of play. I observed the other day that their forwards like to play high and they run offside."

Hawai'i captain Jessica Domingo, a junior midfielder, said they incorporated the strategy for "quicker teams who like to send long balls" and would be utilizing it more frequently in games.

"But as you can see, we didn't execute as well as we'd like," she said. "It's hard. When you're learning something you are going to make mistakes. That's why it's good we're working on this at this point in the season."

Hawai'i managed to catch Northridge offside 10 times; the Rainbow Wahine were offside just once.

"It was the game plan, to go over the top," Matadors coach Keith West said. "It was a tactical decision. We felt we could get behind their defense, and if we did get the opportunity, we felt we would be successful."

Hawai'i outshot Northridge 17-13 in the first half, including 9-7 in shots on goal.

The Rainbow Wahine go on the road for nonconference games against San Diego and Loyola Marymount before beginning the Western Athletic Conference season at Idaho and Boise State.

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.