The Rainbow Wahine soccer team will face the pressure this week.
Hawaii had a difficult time handling No. 18 California’s in-your-face pressure and athleticism in a 5-1 loss on Sunday. The Rainbow Wahine have just a few days to address their play before Thursday’s 7 p.m. game against Wyoming (0-0-1) in the Outrigger Resorts No Ka Oi tournament.
"In training, we need to address composure," Hawaii coach Michele Nagamine said. "We’ll do things with more pressure in small spaces."
There isn’t much time for the Rainbow Wahine (0-2), many of whom played 90 minutes on Friday and Sunday, to recover from opening weekend. Wyoming is coming off a 0-0 double-overtime tie with Montana.
"Wyoming is a very good team; they’re top in their conference as well," Nagamine said. "We’re going to have to make sure that we recover them properly, be responsible in managing their energy systems."
Lauren Takai said the team will focus on stringing together their passes in practices. The junior walk-on from Pearl City started on opening weekend and scored in the loss to California.
"Connecting our passes from the defensive end to the middles to the forwards, we need to get our passes together and we’ll be fine," Takai said.
Takai scored after freshman Raisa Strom-Okimoto’s free kick bounced off a California player to Takai. Strom-Okimoto, who missed her senior season at Aiea last year with a torn ACL, was one of several Rainbow Wahine who returned to the field after injuries. Tiana Fujimoto and Justine Olotoa both started after missing last season with injuries.
"I told her I believed in her," Takai said of Strom-Okimoto. "I knew she could take shots from high school time. I told her to breathe and relax. She said she ripped it as hard as she could."
Denver (0-2), picked to win the Summit League, is also in the tournament. The Pioneers play Wyoming on Saturday and Hawaii on Monday.
Match canceled
The tourney finale scheduled for Monday between Stanford and BYU was canceled due to unplayable conditions at Waipio.
