Net result: Wahine scoring and winning more

Tiana Fujimoto summed up a key difference between this year’s Hawaii women’s soccer team and the one that started 0-6 last season.

"The balls are actually going in the net instead of going out," the sophomore forward said with a laugh.

Simple, yes, but the Big West Conference’s top goal scorer (with five) is right. UH (4-1-1) has found the goal an average 2.5 times per game, tops in the Big West going into this weekend’s Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Soccer Classic. UH can equal last season’s win total against Ball State (3-2) tonight at 7 at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium. Then the Rainbow Wahine close a six-game homestand on Sunday against Detroit (2-3).

UH averaged only 1.39 goals last season.

"The thing that I am just thrilled about is that every one of our goals, just about, is pretty legitimate," UH coach Michele Nagamine said. "We either work really hard and get a result, or it’s a one-touch finish that’s absolutely meant to go in."

Some might point to the fact that the Wahine haven’t played nearly as tough a schedule as the gauntlet of ranked foes they faced in nonconference play last season en route to a 5-12-1 overall record (4-2-1 Western Athletic Conference). They’d be right, but that’s only part of the story.

UH’s ball movement has drastically improved. It has 12 assists for the season, compared to 14 for all of last year, including against mediocre competition in the WAC. The sharing has contributed to a current five-match unbeaten streak, and nine games at home without a loss dating back to last year.

"We’ve had a lot of home games consecutively, and I think it’s building us as a team. We’re getting confidence on the ball and with each other," junior defender Crystal Fresquez said. "The back line, we work really hard together and for each other. That just carries through to the centers, to the forwards."

Fujimoto, a prolific scorer at Moanalua High two years ago, has made opponents pay almost every outing with her speed and shiftiness that counteract her small (5 feet) stature.

She had three goals in 2011 after a delayed start to her freshman season because of knee surgery. She was never totally healthy, battling ankle injuries along the way. Her recovery and a renewed team work ethic have allowed her to flourish.

"We know that our hard work is paying off," Fujimoto said. "From where we were last year to now, we’re working a lot harder for it."

UH has endured several serious injuries already this season — four of the season-ending variety — but got out of Monday’s 3-0 win over BYU-Hawaii relatively unscathed.

"We have a pretty thin roster at this point with all of our injuries," Nagamine said. "We’ve got to be smarter, we’ve got to be better. I told them, ‘Hey, we’re not Hertz. We’re Avis. We have to try harder.’ "