WAIPAHU, Hawaii — As the minutes ticked down with the Hawaii soccer team trailing Georgia Southern by a goal, a familiar outcome appeared inevitable.
Season openers have a history of being unkind to the Rainbow Wahine. But Thursday night broke from the past.
UH, tapping into contributions from some new sources, rallied from a goal down in the final 10:26 to beat the Eagles, 3-2, and start the 2024 season on a positive at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
It was only UH’s second campaign-opening win in 14 years (13 active seasons) under Michele Nagamine, and first since 2017.
“I’m so thankful that it just went our way, because how many times have we been on the short end of the stick?” Nagamine said. “To have so many young players step up today, too, that was so nice to see.”
After a flurry of action in the first 20 minutes saw the Eagles go into halftime up a score thanks to two set piece goals, UH regrouped and steadily turned up the intensity in the final 45 minutes.
Sophomore Tatum Porter took a deft pass from freshman Alice Davidson in the box and equalized in the 80th minute.
Then, freshman Nalani Damacion found the ball in a scrum in the box and tapped it home in the 86th for the match-winner.
“It was just a rush of adrenalin and then I was just so happy I could make that big of an impact on the game – my first game ever in collegiate soccer,” said Damacion, of Rocklin, Calif.
Nagamine was proud of the way her upperclassmen welcomed her crop of newcomers. Senior Brynn Mitchell put in a ball in the 15th minute between scores by Georgia Southern’s Cathey Smith and Kendall Wilson.
“We had freshman and sophomore delight today,” she said.
UH overcame a scramble of a preseason that saw it practice at multiple sites on and off campus while its new soccer venue at Cooke Field is under construction.
But the Wahine appeared to gain strength as the match went – possibly aided by the adjustment required of the Sun Belt team from the Eastern Time Zone.
Starting goalkeeper Brianna Chirpich went out with an injury with a little over a minute to play. She was replaced by redshirt freshman Kennedy Justin.
“I think she tweaked it pretty good. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on but I’m going to go check on her after this,” Nagamine said. “I hope she’s OK.”
Now UH will face Utah State, the reigning Mountain West tournament champion, to cap the Outrigger Soccer Kickoff at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The Aggies trounced Pepperdine 4-0 in the first game of the tournament Thursday. There are three local players on USU’s roster: Ally Yoshimura (Punahou); Faith Hines (Kapolei); and Kayla Sato (Mililani).
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.