A new era begins for the UH-Hilo soccer program when it opens the season in Nampa, Idaho, beginning Thursday and Saturday with a pair of nonconference games against Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.
A new era begins for the UH-Hilo soccer program when it opens the season in Nampa, Idaho, beginning Thursday and Saturday with a pair of nonconference games against Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.
It’s not a just a new season, it will be the first NCAA head coaching assignment for Gene Okamura, named the interim coach after Lane Thompson resigned last spring, the first competitive action for a long list of newcomers and, oh yes, a different tactical approach. One more twist will occur when they return in another week and play on the Kamehameha Schools field in Keaau, but first things first.
Off to Idaho.
“It’s going to be exciting,” Okamura said before the Vulcans boarded a plane Tuesday for the first of three flights that will take them to their destination. “We have had three weeks of competing against each other, everybody’s ready to play someone else and see how we do.”
The women’s team, youthful almost to the point of distraction a year ago, is still youthful, but it is experienced youth that survived the 4-9 conference record. They were 3-3-1 at home a year ago but losses on their own pitch to BYU-Hawaii and Holy Names were big hits.
Thompson coached an approach that strived to keep the ball in the opponents’ third of the field as often as possible, trying to convert turnovers into offense on a short field, but this season, Okamura intends to play a bit more offensively.
“No matter what, the ball needs to go forward,” Okamura said, “but if what we want isn’t there, you will probably see us recycle it more often, looking for an opening on the other side, always looking for a weak spot to expose.”
He favors a 4-3-3 structure with last year’s leading scorer, Abcde Zoller (four goals, one assist), returning for a fifth year. It was a challenging decision because her courses early took her out of training sessions, but she has since begun to get into the flow.
She will be joined by Tiera Arakawa, a sophomore goal scorer from King Kekaulike High School, who got some playing time last season.
“Looks ready to go,” Okamura said, “I’m pretty sure you be writing about her a lot this season.”
Also up front in a new offense will be a second King Kekaulike teammate, junior Kayela Santiago, who started seven games last year and will team with Zoller and Arakawa to form a mighty mite front line — all three stand 5-feet tall.
Madison Shaw, a junior transfer from Santa Barbara City College, quickly emerged as leader by example, Okamura said, expecting she will be in the thick of it all season.
Jenna Hufford is back after a medical redshirt erased what started out as a very good season. She had a career high 18 saves in a scoreless draw against Simon Fraser, then she recorded a clean sheet in the 1-0 victory against Chaminade.
“Great to have her back and ready to go,” Okamura said, “we’re better there now.”
Very little is known about either CWU or Northwest Nazarene, but that wasn’t big concern for Okamura, who because of the school’s policy of employing one coach for both teams — involving more athletes than any other program in the athletic department — has to prepare two teams playing different styles for a total of four weekend games.
“The women’s team should be more cohesive at the start,” he said, “there are more of them that have been together and we have some real high soccer intelligence people who came in, some of them are impressive, they really get it.
“Right now,” Okamura said, “I’m more concerned with what we’re going to do, we know these girls will compete, but let’s find out how well they pay attention to detail, will they retain what we’ve worked on and get the ball into the right places, the soft spots?
“We’ll learn a lot, I can tell you more about what we’ve got in another week.
The Vulcan women play Central Washington Thursday at 8 a.m. HST.
Lady Vulcans: numbers to know
4 Wins last season
9 Points last season for leading returning goal scorer, Abcde Zoller
0.80 Career goals against average for Jenna Hufford
7 seniors on the roster
17 Starts (every contest) last season for junior fullback Cayla Verlander and matches played for junior foward Kayela Santiago