Not even the most brutal of losses could keep the Hawaii women’s soccer team down.

Now the Rainbow Wahine look to parlay their optimism into road success in the challenging Big West Conference. UH (6-6-2, 1-2 BWC) plays at UC Santa Barbara (3-9-2, 0-3-1) today and league-leader Cal Poly (7-5-1, 4-0) on Sunday.

The Wahine, losers in four of their past five matches — including a double-overtime, last-minute stunner against Cal State Fullerton on Sunday — arrived in Santa Barbara, Calif., in high spirits on Wednesday night.

"They’re always so positive and they have such good attitudes, and they understand what it means to our program to finish strong," UH coach Michele Nagamine said. "I know they’re tired, taped up and wrapped up with ice bags in places I didn’t know you could put ice bags."

With six BWC matches to play — and only two of those at home — UH needs a road win to stay in the hunt for a top-four finish and a spot in the conference tournament. Sophomore forward Tiana Fujimoto still leads the team with six goals, though she hasn’t scored since a win over Detroit on Sept. 9.

UH is 1-5 on the mainland this year, and has dropped 17 of its past 19 on the road overall.

None of those could have hurt more than the 1-0 home loss to CSF, a BWC title contender. UH had dominated play after halftime but gave up a counterattack goal in the 109th minute after an unsuccessful corner kick at the other end. It snapped the team’s program-record 12 straight unbeaten matches at Waipio Peninsula.

"It was a devastating loss, but I think it made us more hungry," senior goalkeeper Kanani Taaca said from Santa Barbara. "We know what it feels like to play against one of the top teams in the conference. We were just really positive coming off of that loss, and looking to do great things up here."

Late in that match, CSF goalkeeper Lindsey Maricic kicked UH midfielder Krystal Pascua in the back while the two were on the ground on a physical play in the goal area. Pascua alone was yellow carded after some subsequent shoving. Nagamine looked at game tape and said she’d submit it to the game officials to make them aware of what happened, but said she wouldn’t take it up with the league.

The Wahine are moving forward.

"If we can find a way to win this weekend, I think that will say a lot about how far we’ve come as a team," Nagamine said.