WAIPAHU, Hawaii — They want more.
After coming back to defeat UC Riverside, 2-1, on Sunday to clinch a spot in the six-team Big West championships, the first-place Hawaii soccer team resolved that it isn’t content to just get there.
“Hashtag NOT PAU YET. Not pau yet,” coach Michele Nagamine said. “We have so much soccer left to play. We knew that getting into the tournament was not going to be easy, but that was not our goal. Our goal was to make a run at a Big West championship. So, that dream is still alive.”
[Note: See below for more photos of UC Riverside-Hawaii.]
UH, wearing throwback rainbow uniforms, continues to produce statistics that recall the program’s peak era in the mid-2000s. It remained unbeaten for a record ninth straight match, and earned its first 10-win season (10-6-1, 6-0-1 Big West) in the 14-year Nagamine era. The last came in 2007 — the only time to date UH has reached the NCAA Tournament.
At 19 points atop the Big West table with three matches left in the regular season and three points clear of second-place UC Santa Barbara, the worst UH can do is fourth place — meaning that the Rainbow Wahine will host a Big West tournament match or get a first-round bye, or both.
An estimated 1,300 people turned out at the stadium on a busy afternoon for youth soccer at the Waipio Complex.
“The crowd was amazing today,” Nagamine said. “They were so loud and they got into it. It really did buoy the women.”
Cate Sheahan equalized on Brynn Mitchell’s cross in the 61st minute and, once UCR went down a player for the final 21 minutes due to a red card, UH pushed hard on the staggered Highlanders. Mia Foster found freshman Nalani Damacion for a wide-open blast from inside the box in the 86th minute.
Damacion found a blind spot for the UCR defense and hung with the Highlanders’ back line until the moment Foster’s lob left her foot, then darted behind. Damacion knocked it down quickly with her body and struck it solidly with her right leg.
“I told my teammates during a water break that I was open backside every single time,” Damacion said. “They just left me out there. Finally we got a ball over and luckily I put it away.”
It was Damacion’s sixth goal of the season, and sixth game-winner — the most for a freshman in the country and double the count of go-ahead scores of the closest player in the Big West, UC Davis’ Genavieve Fontes. Three of Damacion’s scores have been in Big West matches.
Nagamine remains awed at the 5-foot-8 midfielder’s knack for coming up with clutch plays, to the point she thinks Damacion, of Rocklin, Calif., deserves conference player of the year consideration.
“She’s so powerful and she’s got such good technique,” the coach said. “It was a really surreal moment to witness that from a true freshman.”
UCR players, caught flat-footed, waved for an offside call on the play, to no avail.
The Highlanders (2-12-3, 0-5-3), coming off a 2-0 loss at UC Davis on Thursday, remained winless for an 11th straight match. However, they ended UH’s record five-match shutout streak with a goal by Julianna Hernandez in the 32nd minute. She took a wide pass right in front of the frame and put it where UH goalkeeper Kennedy Justin wasn’t.
“They’re a good team, fast team,” UCR interim head coach Gerardo Hidalgo said. “When you go down a player, it’s hard to slow that down. (Hawaii) did a good job of keep knocking on that door until they got that goal. The momentum shift, they got a great crowd as well. It was hard to combat that.”
Hidalgo did not dispute to Spectrum News the two yellow cards on Emma Gonzalez in a one-minute span that caused her to be sent off with a red, but he was eager to take a closer look at Damacion's goal for a possible offside. He wasn't sure how he would proceed with the Big West office if he saw something. The match was not televised or live streamed, but the teams did make their own video recordings.
UH now readies for the always-challenging Central California road swing through Cal Poly (4 p.m. Hawaii time Thursday) and UC Santa Barbara (2 p.m. Sunday).
Cal Poly is 4-9-3 and 2-4-1 in conference. UCSB is the only other team without a Big West loss; the Gauchos (6-3-8, 4-0-4) drew in their last three matches.
With at least a split of the trip, the Wahine would guarantee themselves a top-two finish and bye into the semifinals. The semifinals and final are hosted by the regular-season champion. Seed Nos. 3 and 4 will host Nos. 6 and 5, respectively, for a first-round game.
“If we can actually finish first … then I would be thrilled to host the whole thing,” Nagamine said. “I think with us leaving the Big West (for the Mountain West after the 2025 season), I think it would be the perfect time to just bring everybody to Hawaii. But there’s a lot of soccer left to play.”
In its previous two Big West tournament appearances (2019, 2023), UH has been the lowest seed in the field.
UH has eight double-digit win seasons in its 30 seasons of existence. The program record for wins in a season is 15 in 2007. UH has matched its most conference wins in a season with six, also set in 2007.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.