There were hugs and tears and lei piled high on the players’ shoulders.

Many of the elements of a University of Hawaii senior day were present at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium on Sunday — with the exception of an actual game.

The Rainbow Wahine were en route to Waipahu when UH coach Michele Nagamine received word that the team’s season finale against UC San Diego had been canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.

A positive test within the Tritons program led to the decision to call off the game, which was declared a no contest.

“It’s absolutely heartbreaking, but 100% par for the course this season,” Nagamine said. “It’s just been one thing after another and just when you think you’ve seen it all, something else happens.”

The match was to be the farewell appearances for UH seniors Natalie Daub, Maki Kono, Morgan Meza, McKenzie Moore and Kayla Ryan.

Although the game was canceled, the team still held its senior day ceremony on the field an hour before the scheduled 11 a.m. start. Family members who were in town for the festivities were notified and made their way to the field earlier than expected.

“True to this team’s resiliency, we found a way to honor and celebrate our seniors despite not having a game and that’s just what we do,” Nagamine said.

The Rainbow Wahine closed the season at 2-9-3 overall, 2-5-2 in Big West play and in eighth place in the 11-team conference. After having the 2020 season canceled due to the pandemic, UH had five teams pull out of this year’s nonconference schedule and dropped five matches by one goal. They’ll end 2021 with a two-match winning streak after picking up victories at UC Davis and Cal State Bakersfield in their final road trip of the season.

“The resiliency, the refusal to give up, those are the things that I’m going to remember the most about this season and this class,” Nagamine said.

“Just powering through obstacle after obstacle. In that respect, I’m extremely appreciative of the players and how they’ve stuck together and stuck with their coaches and we really did show toward the end of the season what we’re capable of and I’m just happy that they were able to experience that.”