Hawaii soccer team enters senior game on a hot streak

Coming off a road sweep, Hawaii’s seniors have another breakthrough in mind for the Rainbow Wahine soccer team’s season finale.

The Wahine celebrated their first wins of a challenging season during their last trip to California and return to Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium today aiming to snap the program’s run of winless senior days/nights.

“In my time here we haven’t won on senior night, so I know that was a goal for all of us coming in,” UH forward Kayla Ryan said. “We want to win on senior night and we want to set the tone for the coming senior nights.”

Since a 2-0 win over Cal State Northridge in 2013, UH has lost five of the past six farewell matches, with a tie against Cal Poly in 2017 as the outlier. The Rainbow Wahine (2-9-3, 2-5-2 Big West) will try to reverse that trend while building on their recent momentum when they close the season today against UC San Diego (5-10-2, 3-5-1) at WPSS.

The game — set for 11 a.m. with 1,000 spectators allowed in the stadium — will mark the farewell appearances for UH’s five-member senior class of Ryan, Natalie Daub, Maki Kono, Morgan Meza and McKenzie Moore.

“We want to send our seniors off on a great note, we want to break that trend of not winning on senior night and then we want to make sure we set ourselves up on a three-game winning streak as we catapult ourselves into the winter and spring seasons,” UH coach Michele Nagamine said. “I think it’s massive for us.”

Simply having the opportunity to finish their careers on the field seemed hazy after the Big West canceled the 2020 season due to the pandemic.

UH’s return season presented another test of perseverance, with the Wahine going deep into the schedule before posting their first wins of the year. But a 2-1 win at UC Davis on Oct. 21 and a 4-0 rout at Cal State Bakersfield a week ago send them into today’s match looking to end the season with a winning streak.

“I didn’t know going into this year if I’d have (a senior night), or if the season would play out as planned,” said Daub, who will have family from Washington in the crowd today. “So it’s something since my freshman year I’ve always been looking forward to, just the celebration, so I’m really excited for that.”

Daub, Meza, Moore and Ryan contributed to UH’s first appearance in the Big West tournament in 2019. Ryan led the team with seven goals that season and Meza’s tying goal at Long Beach State in the regular-season finale helped seal UH’s tournament berth as the fourth seed.

“They are hilarious,” Nagamine said of the group’s personality. “This is a class that just has continued to entertain me from their freshman year all the way through their senior year.

“They’ve really rallied around each other and they’ve set the pace for us from a fitness perspective. We could always count on them to come back in shape and do their jobs.”

Kono joined the senior class this season as a graduate transfer from Loyola Marymount and “it was like she’s been with us for four years,” Nagamine said. “She didn’t miss a beat and she endeared herself to the group.”

Kono scored two goals in the win at CSU Bakersfield that jumped the Wahine from 11th to eighth in the Big West standings.

Through the adversity of the shutdown and this season’s run of close calls that came up short, the senior class came through the experience with lessons and a connection that will extend beyond their time on the pitch.

“I definitely think we’ve bonded a lot. We’ve gone through a lot together in our time here just within this environment and outside of soccer too,” Ryan said. “Just in this last season we’ve come together because we sit here and we go, ‘OK we’ve been losing a lot, but at the and of the day this is our last season, so let’s just make the most of it.’ And I think we’re all excited to see what’s going to happen for our lives and where everybody’s going, so we’re really just looking forward to the future.”

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Big West Soccer

At Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium

UC San Diego (5-10-2, 3-5-1 BWC) vs. Hawaii (2-9-3, 2-5-2)

>> When: Today, 11 a.m.

>> TV/Radio: None

>> Attendance: 1,000 spectators allowed with proof of vaccination