Like many people living on the West side of Oahu, Hawaii women’s soccer coach Michele Nagamine has had to worry at times about traffic.
That won’t be the case for at least the nonconference portion of the Rainbow Wahine soccer season this year, as all home matches have been moved to UH’s newly completed on-campus field.
Hawaii will begin the 2026-27 athletic year for all sports on Thursday, with the Rainbow Wahine hosting No. 23 Texas Tech on campus.
UH will install temporary bleachers and other infrastructure necessary to host home matches on campus earlier than expected after the playing surface at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium was recently deemed unplayable.
It’s a situation that has both its positives and negatives as Nagamine opens her 15th season in charge of the Rainbow Wahine, who will make their debut in the Mountain West Conference later this year.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be hosting the matches this weekend on campus,” Nagamine said Tuesday. “I know there has been an added layer of just operational challenges, and we want to say mahalo everybody for being so flexible and understanding, but the fact that we can just roll out of the lounge after our pregame talk and get started on the field, that is a luxury this team is not familiar with.”
Hawaii hasn’t played on campus since 2019, when it hosted four matches. UH also hosted a match in 2013 and played all nine of its home contests on campus in 1999.
In total, UH is 8-4-2 all-time when playing on its own campus.
Hawaii will begin the season hosting its first ranked opponent since it played No. 5 UCLA in 2019.
After debuting against the Red Raiders, UH will play Kansas State on Sunday at 4 p.m. to conclude the Outrigger Soccer Kickoff.
UH is 3-3 all-time against Big 12 opponents.
“You know us, we don’t mess around. We want to start with the 10-foot surf right away. We are definitely not playing in the white water, that is for sure.” Nagamine said earlier this week. “This is the way we prepare for conference and this is how we have to do business when we live in paradise. The schools who can afford to come, those are the ones that we need to schedule.”
Hawaii will play seven home matches to start the season through Labor Day weekend before opening conference play on the road in late September.
The Rainbow Wahine were picked to finish sixth in their first season in the Mountain West Conference, according to the preseason poll, and landed three players on the 33-player MWC soccer watch list.
Senior forward Anuhea Aluli, a transfer from Oakland who prepped at Kamehameha, and Izzy Ayala, who was the only Rainbow Wahine to start every match last season, were joined by junior goalkeeper Kennedy Justin on the list.
Hawaii allowed only seven goals after halftime last season, outscoring opponents 12-7.
The team spent last weekend on Maui hosting a keiki clinic and playing an exhibition against Seattle University on the campus of King Kekaulike.
Both teams also traveled to Lahaina on Saturday to honor the victims of the 2023 Lahaina fires and presented lei at the memorial during a community service event.
“As someone who is not from here but has been very lucky to embrace the culture … I feel like I have learned a lot in the past two years, and going there was very emotional,” junior defensive back Piper Bertani said Tuesday. “I think I saw a lot of tears. I teared up myself. I haven’t experienced anything like that before and I am very lucky to have done it and I think all of the girls on our team are very grateful to have gone. It’s something we will remember for the rest of our lives.”
Thursday’s match will not be televised due to the late field change. Sunday’s match will be the first broadcast of UH’s new TV rights deal on K5.
OUTRIGGER SOCCER KICKOFF
At UH Lower Campus Field
Thursday
>> Seattle vs. Kansas State, 1 p.m.
>> Hawaii vs. No. 23 Texas Tech, 4 p.m.
Sunday
>> Seattle vs. No. 23 Texas Tech, 1 p.m.
>> Hawaii vs. Kansas State, 4 p.m.
———
>> TV: K5 (Sunday’s UH match only)
>> Radio: None
Leave a Comment