The reference is probably lost on her players, but Michele Nagamine turned to an old-time slogan to sum up the University of Hawaii soccer season to date.
“I feel like we should call ourselves the Timex Club, take a licking and keep on ticking,” Nagamine said. “The kids are too young, they don’t remember that commercial. But we took our smacks and we learned a lot from it.”
After going 0-4-1 in a rugged nonconference schedule, the Rainbow Wahine open the Big West season today with a match against Cal State Northridge at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium and could use a reliable timepiece on what shapes up as a hectic weekend.
About 24 hours after facing the Matadors (1-9), the Wahine will board a plane headed to California on Friday and will play at Long Beach State (3-4-1) on Sunday to close the first weekend conference play.
“I am a little curious as to how the team is going to handle it because we’ve never been in this situation before,” Nagamine said.
Before dealing with the quick turnaround, the Wahine will look to apply the lessons absorbed in their nonconference struggles in today’s matchup with CSUN.
They were shut out in their first four matches and were outscored 12-0 in losses at Gonzaga and Washington State on their first road trip of the season. They finally broke through against Idaho but surrendered a late goal in a 3-2 loss at Idaho on Sept. 8. In all UH’s nonconference opponents are a combined 36-6-4.
Upon returning to campus, Nagamine said the staff went “old school” in practices during a bye week to build greater accountability and cut down on costly mental errors.
“They responded extremely well and a few of them told me, ‘I wish you would have cracked down sooner,’” Nagamine said.
“Right after the road trip I said, ‘the madness stops.’ … We’re wiping the slate clean, and you can reinvent yourself. If you have some regrets and feel you left some things on the table, now is the chance for you to have some redemption.”
Sophomore Kelci Sumida scored UH’s first goal of the season at Idaho and Krista Peterson added another. Peterson is slated to be among five freshmen in today’s starting lineup.
“In the beginning of the sason there were big wide eyes,” Nagamine said. “But now there’s confidence, there’s communication, there’s connection. They’ve made some unbelieveable progress in just seven or eight days.”
BIG WEST SOCCER
At Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium
CSU Northridge (1-9) vs. Hawaii (0-4-1)
>> When: Today, 7 p.m.
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: none
>> Online: hawaiiathletics.com
