The Hawaii soccer team received a needed postseason pick-me-up on Wednesday.

Coming off a season-ending loss Sunday to last-place Cal State Fullerton — a stumble that cost UH its first Big West tournament berth — the fifth-place Rainbow Wahine received their most hardware in their seven years in the conference.

Senior striker Raisa Strom-Okimoto was named the program’s first Big West offensive player of the year, and she was joined by midfielder Lei Medeiros on the All-BWC first team. Goalkeeper Lex Mata was a Big West honorable mention and center back Elena Palacios made the BWC All-Freshman team.

“It’s definitely been rough, especially the day after, for all of us,” Strom-Okimoto said. “But I kind of spent that day with the girls too, just talking about it. We talked about the whole game and the whole season we had overall. Even though we lost that last game, we were proud of the team and how far we came.”

The Aiea alumna and UH co-captain became UH’s first three-time All-BWC performer. She was the conference’s leading scorer at 12 goals, and overall points leader at 27 factoring in her three assists. She carried UH (9-7-1, 4-4 Big West) to an overall winning season and its best BWC finish to date.

She wrapped up her career with 22 goals, sixth all-time for UH, and 13 assists, which tied for eighth.

“She was constantly working from start to finish. I think people really respected that about her,” UH coach Michele Nagamine said. “When anything got hard, she just worked harder.”

Medeiros, a Kamehameha-Maui graduate, was one of two sophomores on the first team after scoring seven goals and posting a team-high four assists in a breakout year. She scored one goal as a BWC All-Freshman team selection last season.

“I’m just happy that a few of us got recognition from Hawaii, because it shows that there’s talent everywhere, not just in the huge states,” said Medeiros, of Wailuku.

It marked the third straight year UH placed two players on the first team; Strom-Okimoto and Addie Steiner did it in 2016, and Sonest Furtado joined Strom-Okimoto in 2017.

“I think with her technical ability and the way Lei reads the game, she could also be one of our best to put on a UH jersey,” Nagamine said. “I told Lei, ‘you need to look at what Raisa’s done, because that’s the amount of work and suffering that’s going to need to occur for you to get to that next level.’ “

Said Medeiros, “I really do look up to Raisa because she’s a perfect role model of what it’s like to overcome adversity. Her injuries from her senior year in high school, her freshman year here in college, I think that every single one of us should look up to Raisa and keep her as an example of what to do in times where nothing’s going your way.”

Mata’s honorable mention amounted to top-three status among keepers in the conference. The redshirt junior from Woodland, Calif., was second in saves (86) and save percentage (.811) after playing every minute in goal. She had six shutouts and kept UH within a goal in its league losses.

Palacios, of Mountain View, Calif., was named to the 11-player freshman team. She played all but 17 minutes of a possible 1,592 this season.

Regular-season champ Long Beach State took coach of the year (Mauricio Ingrassia), midfielder of the year (Dana Fujikuni) and defender of the year (Sarah Maher). UC Irvine’s Maddie Newsom was goalkeeper of the year.

UH SOCCER CONFERENCE PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

>> Natasha Kai WAC 2002, 2003, 2005

>> Ambree Ako WAC 2007 (offensive)

>> Tehane Higa WAC 2007 (defensive)

>> Taryn Fukuroku WAC 2008 (offensive)

>> Nicole Mikula WAC 2008 (defensive)

>> Raisa Strom-Okimoto BWC 2018 (offensive)