Wahine to honor 8 soccer seniors

To get to the best of times, they certainly had to endure the worst of them.

The members of the Hawaii soccer team will attempt to send out their eight seniors with an unblemished 2016 home record and close in on a Big West tournament berth with a strong showing against Cal State Fullerton at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium today.

This time last year, the Rainbow Wahine staggered toward an 0-8 conference finish.

“This senior class has been extremely resilient. They’ve seen us at our best and they’ve seen us at our worst,” sixth-year coach Michele Nagamine said of her largest departing group. “And they actually were the biggest catalysts to help us be better. That’s how I’m going to remember them.”

Of the eight, four are four-year local products: Storm Kenui, T.J. Reyno, Madison Reed and Lauren Takai. Two were four-year players from the mainland: Monk Berger and Ryan Daniel. And the last two transferred here: Elise Wassner and Addie Steiner. They’ll all be traditionally honored after the game.

None of them had been a part of a winning season in Manoa before this year.

“Honestly, I want to say this is probably the best feeling I’ve ever had in the four years I’ve been here,” said Kenui, a co-captain and four-year starter out of Moanalua. “And just knowing we still have more games to look forward to and games that are in our control to make it to the Big West, it’s definitely more than a dream come true.”

UH is tied for fifth in points with three games to play. Nagamine thinks her team needs to win two, including one on the road next week at UC Irvine or Cal State Northridge, to vault into the top four.

The Wahine can equal the program’s largest season turnaround in wins (plus seven) with a victory today against the nemesis Titans. But Fullerton is the three-time defending Big West tournament champion and is 4-0 against UH since it joined the conference.

“We have a chance. We’re about to make history. I keep saying that, but it’s so true,” said the goalkeeper Berger, UH’s career shutouts leader (16) who has matched the UH single-season record of seven she set as a true freshman.

The seniors did what was asked of them to spark this year’s turnaround.

Kenui and Reyno moved to defense after spending most of their careers upfield. Kenui had nearly all of her seven goals and six assists earlier in her career, but is now invaluable as a center back. Reyno, a hyped recruit out of Mililani, overcame myriad injuries that slowed her in previous seasons. She has three career goals and four assists.

“Even if you’re injured, if you’re not even to your full potential, you can do things in a lot of different ways,” Reyno said. “Mentally, I pushed myself and physically I did. I’m glad I had surroundings that pushed me so I can still play on the field.”

Reed, another Mililani product, has played everywhere for Nagamine, including at forward for the first time last week.

“I’m just going to be the best person I can be for my team and help out however I can,” said Reed, who will play in her 50th career game today. “It’s just so exciting to see us get the results we didn’t get last year.”

Takai, a starting midfielder, didn’t plan to play soccer out of Pearl City at first. But she reached out to Nagamine in 2013, made the team on a tryout, and evolved from a quiet walk-on into a co-captain with a voice. Her two goals at UH came against Pac-12 teams Cal and Arizona State.

“I’m really glad that Coach Bud allowed me to do that. No regrets,” Takai said. “I’m kind of amazed with how things have ended.”

Berger, of Garden Grove, Calif., recommitted herself in the offseason after struggling her sophomore and junior seasons.

“I thought my freshman year, that’s as good as it’s going to get,” Berger said. “But to exceed those expectations, not only for myself but my biggest critics. … And to do it with my team, without them none of this would’ve been possible.”

Steiner, of Prairie Village, Kan., shouldered much of the scoring burden in her only UH season as a touted transfer from Northwestern. Four of her team-high eight goals are game-winners.

“Everyone here is so special to me already in such a short amount of time,” Steiner said. “I’m really blessed to be able to spend my senior home game here in Hawaii.”

Wassner and Daniel gamely accepted backup roles this year. The athletic utility player Daniel, of Berkeley, Calif., has one career goal and three assists.

“I grew a lot emotionally, my morals,” Daniel said. “I just became my own person out here. I think that’s why I enjoyed it so much and stayed out here all four years.”

Wassner, a 5-foot-10 center back from Palmdale, Calif., arrived out of junior college and played through injury setbacks.

“Ups and downs for anyone’s career. … You just learn a lot,” Wassner said. “I think the biggest takeaway from the whole journey is those connections that you make. At the end of the day it’s the people you’re doing it with.”