Eight home matches at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium highlight the University of Hawaii soccer team’s schedule released on Monday.
The Rainbow Wahine kick off the 2023-24 UH athletics calendar with an exhibition match against Houston Christian on Aug. 13 at WPSS and open the regular season by hosting a tournament starting Aug. 17 against defending Western Athletic Conference champion Utah Valley. The Wahine then take on Gonzaga on Aug. 24 and close their homestand against Sacramento State on Aug. 24. They’ll travel to Air Force (Aug. 31) and UNLV (Sept. 3) on their first road trip of the season.
UH opens Big West play at home against Cal State Northridge on Sept. 14. The Wahine will also face UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly at home during the conference season. They close the regular season Oct. 26 at Long Beach State.
The Wahine return 19 players from last season’s 6-6-3 team, including their top four scorers in forwards Krista Peterson (five goals, four assists), Amber Gilbert (four goals, two assists), Kelci Sumida (two goals, four assists) and midfielder Eliza Ammendolia (two goals, one assist).
Kawai, Nakao top Manoa Cup qualifying
Evan Kawai shot a 6-under-par 65 to earn medalist honors in the open division qualifying round of the 114th Manoa Cup on Monday at Oahu Country Club. Defending champion Raya Nakao topped the women’s qualifying with a round of 4-under 69.
Two-time defending open division champion Peter Jung will be the top seed in the 64-player bracket in the state amateur match-play championship and faces Eric Molina in today’s opening match at 7 a.m. Kawai, the tournament runner-up in 2017 and ’19, will be the second seed and faces Ross Mitsutani.
Keanu Akina of BYU, University of Hawaii golfer Blaze Akana and UH Hilo’s Andrew Otani followed Kawai with rounds of 67 on Monday. Four-time champion Brandan Kop tied for eighth with a 69.
Chloe Jang and Eunice Han finished two shots behind Nakao to tie for second in women’s qualifying. The 16-player women’s bracket runs through Friday’s championship match. The open division will be decided in the 36-hole final on Saturday.
