Hawaii soccer coach Michele Nagamine is bringing two things into her team’s opening of fall practice today: a sense of purpose and a printout of the projected finish of the Rainbow Wahine in their new conference home, the Big West.
UH was picked to finish in a tie for last (ninth) with UC Riverside in the 10-team Big West preseason coaches poll released Tuesday.
BIG WEST SOCCER
Coaches poll (first-place votes in paretheses):
| Team |
Pts |
| 1. Long Beach St. (9) |
99 |
| 2. UC Irvine (1) |
86 |
| 3. CS Fullerton |
71 |
| 4. CS Northridge |
69 |
| 5. UCSB |
53 |
| 6. Cal Poly |
48 |
| 7. (tie) Pacific |
44 |
| 7. (tie) UC Davis |
44 |
| 9. (tie) Hawai’i |
18 |
| 9. (tie) UC Riverside 18 |
|
"I think that’s something they need to see," Nagamine said with a chuckle. "I was absolutely not surprised. It’s like deja vu; we’ve been in this position before."
Last season, Nagamine and UH were picked to finish last in their former home, the Western Athletic Conference, but upset the league’s top teams en route to a third-place finish (5-12-1 overall).
The going figures to be much harder this time. Long Beach State, which made the final eight in the NCAA tournament last season, was picked to win the league with nine of 10 first-place votes. Last year’s regular-season champ, UC Irvine, received the other.
From there, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, Pacific and UC Davis were all picked to finish ahead of UH.
"The WAC had some good teams in it, but the Big West has some great teams in it," Nagamine said. "The quality of our competition has gone up. … I didn’t expect anything more than this. In the Big West we’re going to have to prove ourselves, and that’s what we’ll do."
The Wahine open the season Aug. 17 at former Western Athletic Conference foe Nevada. In the meantime, Nagamine plans to work her squad of 17 returnees and 10 newcomers in a series of double-day practices. Each player was expected to maintain a level of fitness in the offseason.
"Everybody knows nobody is safe or guaranteed a position. We will make changes if needed," Nagamine said. "If people did not do their job over the summer, they lose the benefit of the doubt for a starting job and will be starting from square one."
No UH players were picked to the 12-person preseason All-Big West team.
"I’m fine with that," Nagamine said. "Who are we to think they’d pay attention to what we did in the WAC? … I don’t even think it’s disrespectful. Plain and simple they just don’t know (our players) yet, but they certainly will very quickly. I’m confident of that."
