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After a historic 2021 season, the UH Hilo women’s soccer team hauled in four out of six yearly awards, the Pacific West Conference announced Tuesday.
Gene Okamura earned the recognition of his peers and was selected as the PacWest Coach of the Year. Among his players, Daelenn Tokunaga was named the Player of the Year after leading the conference in goals and scoring, with 13 goals and four assists (30 points). She also led the NCAA West Region in goals scored and goals scored per match (0.92). Second on the team with five goals and five assists (15 points), Filippa Graneld was named the Newcomer of the Year. She ranked second in the conference with 55 shots and 25 shots on goal. Viviana Poli became the first Vulcan to be named the PacWest Goalkeeper of the Year after racking up 42 saves with a 0.53 goals against average. She led the conference with a save percentage of .857.
Tokunaga, Graneld and Poli were named to the PacWest first team, along with teammate Jodie Lillie. Alyssa Padron and Christy Jensen were named to the second team and Bailee Brennan to the third team for the Vulcans.
The bundle of awards comes on the heels of the most successful season in UH Hilo history. The Vulcans finished the regular season with a 12-3 mark. UHH also went 9-1 in PacWest conference play and finished the year as co-champions of the conference with Point Loma. The Vulcans will make their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 5 seed, taking on No. 4 Sonoma State at 11 a.m. Thursday in Seattle.
>> Chaminade defender Hoku Schatz was named to the All-PacWest third team after logging 1,147 minutes in 13 starts for the Silverswords.
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