UH needs Big West victory

This is about as close to a “must-win” as it gets.

But those words were not uttered at Hawaii soccer practice this week, even on the heels of an 0-2 road trip to open up Big West Conference play. For a team that had some serious momentum halted in agonizing fashion, it didn’t have to be said.

“Our goal is to make it to the Big West tournament, so that kind of communicates the dire situation that we’re in,” UH coach Michele Nagamine said Wednesday.

Fortunately for UH, it is finally back at home for an official game today against UC Riverside in the first of four straight league games out on the Waipio Peninsula. The Rainbow Wahine basically need the full three points of a victory against the Highlanders if they are to stay in contention for a long-desired, repeatedly elusive top-four spot and tourney berth.

“This is a huge game,” Nagamine said. “I think it’s going to set the tone for the rest of the season.”

Had one or two balls bounced differently at Cal Poly or UC Santa Barbara, the Wahine might have been right in the thick of things after Week 1 of competitive league play. Instead, they fell by a goal at both places, 2-1 and 3-2, and are tied with Riverside at the bottom.

UH has dropped 10 straight conference games going back to last year, but there’s still plenty of optimism that the last two closely contested matches were not akin to 2015’s struggles.

“It was really frustrating because we all know we did our best. We had both games,” said freshman forward Tia Furuta, who registered her first goal and assist at UCSB. “I don’t think we’re worried now. It’s just motivation to work harder.”

Nagamine has tweaked the lineup, giving Furuta more opportunities off the bench, moving Dani Crawford up to the midfield, shifting Sonest Furtado to outer mid and giving more chances to relative newcomers like Bo Samson and Sammi Walker.

Not counting the alumnae game, UH last played at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium on Sept. 2. It is 6-10 there in four previous years of Big West games, but went unbeaten there in the 2016 nonconference at 5-0-1.

In recent days the Wahine discussed Riverside’s potent set pieces and capitalizing against the Highlanders’ aggressive base 3-4-3 formation. If they can top Riverside — which is 0-2 at Waipio — the high stakes shift Sunday to UC Davis.

One game at a time? Nuts to that. UH has never before had the luxury of four consecutive Big West games in its backyard, over a three-week span.

“Our goal is to get the next four games at home,” junior center back Paige Okazaki said. “And that’ll hopefully take us to the tournament. We want to go 6-2 in conference … (with) our past two losses being the only ones. That’s our goal, what we’re aiming for.”

Okazaki, of El Dorado Hills, Calif., has been a steady presence in the back of late. She is one of several Wahine players enjoying a resurgent year.

“I didn’t like the way I was playing last season. I knew something needed to change,” Okazaki said. “I tried coming in more fit. I was more pumped and more eager to play. … I look forward to getting out there and playing and doing my thing. I think I’m just a lot more ‘here’ this year.”

Meanwhile, Furuta, the Star-Advertiser State Player of the Year as a Mililani junior in 2015, had the breakout game Nagamine thought she was capable of.

“I noticed I was doing better at practices and I guess it paid off in games,” Furuta said. “I knew once I got this first goal everything would start going up.”

UH hopes that applies to the standings after today, too.