Can the Hawaii soccer team pull off a shocker and make it to its first Big West tournament?

Michele Nagamine and her flock of freshmen believe they can.

“I think this is probably the best I’ve felt going into conference play, about the team we have and the preparation we’ve done,” the eighth-year coach said.

UH (5-3-1), which has started as many as six freshmen all over the field, opens conference play at UC Irvine (4-5-1) at 4 p.m. today and follows at Cal State Northridge (4-3-1) at 2 p.m. Sunday.

The Rainbow Wahine were again picked to finish last in the coaches preseason poll after going 1-6-1 in BWC play in 2017. Over the last three years, they are 3-19-2 in the games that matter most.

UH’s high water mark in six years in the talented soccer league is their 3-4-1 showing in 2013 — a tie for fifth.

But the Wahine put together a better-than-expected nonconference record this fall, including a sweep of North Dakota State and Grand Canyon on consecutive days last weekend with a combined 6-0 goal margin. UH went 2-1-1 on the mainland.

UH expects to have sophomore center back Cristina Drossos, a key player, back this week after she suffered a leg injury at Nevada on Sept. 13 and missed three games.

Tickets on sale for MLB All-Stars

Tickets for the Nov. 3 and 4 public workouts by the touring Major League Baseball All-Stars at Les Murakami Stadium are available at HNLTix.com, it was announced Thursday.

They are priced at $15 – $25 per person.

The Nov. 3 session will run from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and the Nov. 4 session will be from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

In addition, the MLB All-Stars will be joined by the Little League World Series champion Honolulu team to hold an invitation-only Play Ball clinic for youth league players ages 5-12 on Nov. 3 from 3 to 4:30 p.m.

The MLB All-Stars are led by manager Don Mattingly and will include Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez, Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich, Braves National League Rookie of the Year Award candidate Ronald Acuna Jr., Phillies teammates Rhys Hoskins and Carlos Santana, Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield and Dodgers infielder/outfielder Chris Taylor. The rest of the 28-member roster will be announced in coming weeks, a spokesman said.

“It’s an honor to welcome MLB to Hawaii for the first time, giving our local baseball fans the opportunity to watch and meet their favorite players right here on (a) home field,” said Duane Kurisu, founder and chairman of the sponsor, AIO Group LLC. “As a bridge between the East and West, we are grateful to partner with MLB and hope to host other professional sports organizations in the future.”

U.S. men’s volleyball in FIVB semifinals

The U.S. men’s national volleyball team, with two Hawaii prep products in the starting lineup, secured a spot in the semifinals of the FIVB World Championship with a 25-22, 25-23, 25-23 win over Russia on Thursday in Turin, Italy.

The U.S. (9-0) and Brazil (8-1) will both advance to Saturday’s semifinals. First, the teams will meet today to determine seeds in the semifinals.

The Americans hit .543 behind the setting of Micah Christenson (Kamehameha). Erik Shoji (Punahou) played the entire match at libero.

On the roster but not playing were setter Kawika Shoji (‘Iolani) and middle Taylor Averill (University of Hawaii).