The Hawaii women’s soccer team has two chances at a breakthrough this weekend.
New coach Michele Nagamine aims to pick up her first Division I win Saturday or Sunday in the Ohana Hotels and Resorts No Ka Oi tournament at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium, but she’ll have to lead the Rainbow Wahine past some tough competition to get it.
RAINBOW WAHINE SOCCER
Ohana Hotels and Resorts No Ka Oi
» Who: North Dakota State (1-0), California (1-1), Hawaii (0-1)
» Today: NDSU vs. Cal, 7 p.m.
» Saturday: NDSU vs Hawaii, 7 p.m.
» Sunday: Cal vs. Hawaii, 5 p.m.
» Where: All matches at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium |
North Dakota State of the Summit League and California of the Pac-12, two teams expected to vie for their league titles, will make UH earn anything it gets. And that’s exactly what Nagamine wants in the wake of a 3-1 season-opening loss to Washington State last Friday.
"We want to play against the top teams," Nagamine said. "We showed that we could be competitive, and that’s at a very early point in the season. We’ve got so much to cover, so much we haven’t even done yet. … Our schedule is not fluffy by any means."
With that in mind, Nagamine said she would continue to tinker with formations and lineups. The Wahine played primarily a 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 against the Cougars.
"We want to be adaptable. We want to be able to make changes on the fly, in the flow of play whenever we see something that needs to be addressed," she said.
NDSU, which won the Summit League last season, is expected to bring plenty of size to the field — something the Wahine are short on. But well-rested UH has the advantage of playing the Bison a day after NDSU tussles with the Cal Golden Bears in the tourney opener today.
Cal, an annual conference contender, thumped UH 8-1 in Berkeley last season. But it’s a new day and new regime in Manoa; UH gained confidence in taking a 1-0 halftime lead against WSU, also of the Pac-12. The Wahine were buoyed by a free-admission crowd of 2,850, the second-largest crowd at a Wahine soccer match. It carried UH — but only for so long.
"We all learned that you can’t stop playing in the second half," senior midfielder Rachel Domingo said. "It wasn’t a bad game; we obviously have some stuff to work on and we’ve been working on it this whole week.
"These are probably two of the best teams we’re going to face all season. But that’s no excuse not to come out hard and play up-and-up with them and capitalize on all our chances that we get."
