For the time being, the grass really is greener on campus for the Hawaii soccer team.
UH has been displaced from its regular home at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium for the first four games of the 2019 season because some chemical resin treatment inadvertently seeped into the field from the bleachers due to heavy rain in late June. The grass — including sections of the field a few yards into play along either sideline — was significantly damaged and looked patchy or dead in the affected areas as recently as Monday.
Two tournaments have been moved to the UH Lower Campus field adjacent to Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium: the Outrigger Soccer Kickoff vs. Southern California (Aug. 22) and San Francisco (Aug. 26), and the Rainbow Wahine Soccer Invitational vs. Nevada (Aug. 29) and Sacramento State (Aug. 31). Game times have moved up to 3:30 p.m. each day because there are no lights at the site the Rainbow Wahine typically use for their training sessions.
With the exception of one game in 2013, UH has used Waipio Peninsula exclusively as its home venue since the 4,000-seat facility’s completion in 2000.
“Of course Waipio is like our home stadium. That’s where we love to go. We love to get the fans out there,” said fifth-year senior goalkeeper Lex Mata. “But hey, it’s an opportunity to play on campus, to get some of the students out here. I think that’s kind of the positive spin we’re putting on this whole situation. It doesn’t matter where we’re going to play. Our mentality doesn’t change. We want to win.”
The resin, epoxy, was meant to fortify the Waipio stands from the elements, and was applied by a contractor for the city Parks and Recreation department. The interruption of the curing process by the rain was not anticipated, said Parks spokesman Nathan Serota.
“It caught us by surprise. It was one of those things where it was unfortunate timing, when the epoxy was set in,” Serota said. “Not really … anyone to blame, per se. It was kind of a series of unfortunate incidents that happened to that bit of grass and damaged it.”
WPSS is about 17 miles from campus, but has amenities not available at UH’s field including seating, a scoreboard, and two-team locker room access. Those issues are being worked out by UH, which has notified the other teams of the playing situation.
UH coach Michele Nagamine is determined to take a “glass-half-full” approach to it.
“The field condition is the best I’ve seen in all of the time I’ve been here,” Nagamine said of UH’s practice area. “(The facilities crew) has been working really hard and I appreciate all the efforts. We’re very happy. They’ve really done a good job of getting it up to speed.
“Plan on bringing a picnic blanket and some lawn chairs. It’ll be like good, old-fashioned soccer at the park. It’s a chance for our town fans to see us in action. Maybe now we can get some students out to the game and give the students a whole new experience. We’re going to make the best of it and do it up right.”
Admission will be free, like Waipio games, although parking on lower campus costs $5 before 4 p.m. ($7 after 4) during the week, and $7 on Saturdays.
The artificial turf football field at UH’s T.C. Ching Athletics Complex was not an option for play due to renovations being performed on the outlying track. In addition, the team’s preference is to play on grass.
UH, knowing it might have to play on its grass practice field in the event Waipio did not recover in time to start the year, had been careful to preserve its field while it practiced. There is an area that recently needed patching; the team will stay clear of it until game time.
The dimensions are the same as the WPSS field.
“Of course, Waipio the grass is super nice … but we know the holes (here),” Mata said at the practice field Tuesday. “We know every little bump and crack in it. You know, I think it’s going to be an advantage for us over the other teams coming here seeing it for the first time.”
Serota, the parks spokesman, said grounds crews have been hard at work to have the WPSS field ready by the time UH returns from a road trip in mid-September for its remaining six official home dates. That includes a Sept. 22 matchup with national powerhouse UCLA. Hawaii Pacific University also lists a Sept. 12 date at Waipio Stadium against Dallas Baptist.
“We’re pretty confident,” Serota said. “We have a really good grass maintenance staff, and the field was almost there for usability for the Wahine soccer team (at the start of the season). It was an abundance of caution to try and make sure they can have it for the rest of the season.”
No other teams or clubs required relocation of games. The soccer park’s popular outlying fields were not affected.
In 2014, Texas threatened not to play at WPSS in a season-opening tournament because of what it deemed as unsafe field conditions but eventually agreed to play after emergency maintenance and leveling repairs were conducted. There were no known field issues through the 2018 season.
