Even amid the constant rumble of seismic waves of Hawaii Island, some unprecedented activity near its eastern shores has caught the attention of the Hilo community.
For the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans, the repeat PacWest Conference women’s soccer champions, elevation has been steady and the firsts have been many as they stand on the cusp of hosting NCAA Division II tournament matches this week.
Coach Gene Okamura’s eighth-ranked team — a compelling combination of local players, transfers from the mainland and internationals — will gather at 1 p.m. Monday to watch the NCAA selection show. As the top-ranked team in the West Region, the far-flung Vulcans should, in theory, get to host two teams from across the ocean in a three-team subregional pod.
In that scenario, the No. 4 and 5 teams in the region would play each other at the Vulcans’ newly renovated field on Thursday, then face host UHH on Saturday.
Hilo made it to the NCAA tournament for the first time as PacWest co-champ in 2021. It was summarily sent packing, 5-1, by Sonoma State in the first round.
“It was an eye-opener,” Okamura told Spectrum News in a recent phone interview. “We went there and got hit in the nose, hit in the jaw. The players have it under their belt.
“Now we have that experience going in and we know what it’s like, we know what to expect.”
For Okamura, 34, a Big Island native and UHH alumnus, this 13-0-3 season has been the best possible example of crossing talent and selfless team culture.
UHH has outscored its opponents an eye-popping 43-8 this season. Grace VerHage, of Kalamazoo, Mich., put in a team-high 11 goals on the year. King Kekaulike High alumna Teani Arakawa has eight. Daelenn Tokunaga, a Pearl City High graduate and former two-year player at Division I UH Manoa, has five scores with a team-high seven assists a season after she was the 13-goal, top offensive option en route to PacWest Player of the Year. And, for good measure, a Swedish transfer from Colorado, Filippa Graneld, has netted six balls.
Defensively, a freshman goalkeeper from California, Lolo Retsky, has anchored the back line most of the year with more shutouts, six, than total goals allowed, five.
The Vulcans capped the year with an impressive, title-clinching 3-0-1 showing in the always difficult SoCal swing through Biola, Point Loma Nazarene, Concordia-Irvine and Azusa Pacific.
VerHage notched a first-half hat trick in a 3-1 win at Azusa Pacific Oct. 29 to lead her team to its first outright PacWest title. It was the first hat trick for the Vulcans in 10 years.
It was around that time that Okamura fully realized what the team was capable of.
“If you told me three years ago, four years ago that we’d go into SoCal and get results and get points at every single place (on that trip), uhh, (I’d say) that’s going to be very tough, or you might be a little crazy,” he said with a laugh.
As a soon-to-be Waiakea High graduate in 2006, Okamura became one of the first three recruits to the fledging UHH men’s soccer program. By 2013, he was assisting for the UHH women’s program, then took over both the Hilo men’s and women’s programs on an interim basis in 2016 when Lance Thompson resigned for personal reasons.
In 2018, he focused entirely on the Hilo women and the program got its first big breakthrough that year when it reached 10 wins. Okamura hit 50 for his young career with a victory at Biola on Oct. 22.
“We knew where we wanted to be six years ago when we took over the program,” he said. “I just didn’t know if we’d ever get it there.”
They’ve arrived. Earlier this season, the Vulcans hit a program-best No. 6 ranking.
The Hilo men’s and women’s programs alternate time slots for their home games every couple of years. This season, the women had the earlier, 12:30 p.m. time slot at their immaculate field.
Even so, Okamura said, the Hilo community has come out to see them, even during weekdays.
“Going to school across the road my entire life, (I know) there’s a lot of pride in our community,” Okamura said. “The community, and soccer community is so tight-knit here that the players feel so much pride also in representing our school and our community. It’s been extremely fulfilling.”
The other teams ranked in the West Division — Hilo’s possible NCAA tournament pod opponents — are Point Loma Nazarene, Western Washington, Sonoma State, Concordia-Irvine, Seattle Pacific, Stanislaus State and Northwest Nazarene.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.