Women’s Soccer Matches On View At HPU Windward Field
The by-product of the Hawaii Pacific University women’s soccer team’s lopsided schedule, which included a recent road trip, is that it now get to settle in for a lengthy six-game home stand at Atherton Field on the Kaneohe campus.
“I’m happy with the progress we’ve made,” head coach Gina Brewer said. “We’ve consistently improved. In hosting the schools from Northern California, we’ll be playing some of the toughest teams, including Fresno Pacific, which actually beat Cal-Baptist, which is leading the (Pac West) conference right now. We’ll play against good tough competition, but we also feel confident if we can play to our potential.”
HPU’s home series was to start Saturday against Notre Dame De Namur. The Fresno Pacific game was set for Monday. The Sea Warriors host Dominican University at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Hawaii-Hilo Oct. 23, Holy Names Oct. 28 and Academy of Art Nov. 2.
The team went 1-3 on its recent road trip, which included stops in Utah and California. The win – a 1-0 victory over Point Loma Nazarene University – concluded the trip and gave Brewer’s team some momentum heading home.
“Ending the trip with a win was good,” she said. “We didn’t have a wonderful game against Dixie State to begin the trip, but even in the losses, we saw improvement. It all came together versus Point Loma. Now we have to move that (momentum) forward.”
HPU has one of the youngest lineups in the league with several freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and sophomores logging big minutes each outing. “We have a lot of players who are still growing and learning. The fact that they’re playing good competition now will help us this year and for years to come.”
The mission for the coming weeks is to improve their offensive output, according to Brewer. The team suffered three shut-out losses on its road trip. Defensively, HPU (3-6 overall at press time, including 1-3 in the PacWest) has been able to hold teams down, including yielding a single goal to University of Hawaii, the state’s lone Division I program, in a game last month.
“We definitely need to score more goals and produce some wins and get the three points (for the standings),” she said. “We’ve been emphasizing being on the attack and getting good scoring opportunities. That’s been our focus in practice lately.”
Among the players who have carried the Sea Warriors to date are a mix of upper-and underclassmen, including Kaisha Chu, Christina Imada, Sky Nanoo and Andrea Aguirre. “Kaisha and Christina are technically red-shirt freshmen, since neither played last year,” Brewer said. “Andrea is going to be somebody we look to (for production). She’ll be dangerous as we go forward. Sky has developed and played with a lot of hustle. She can cover a lot of ground.”
Senior defender Nicole Craig remains HPU’s team leader. “She continues to be consistent in anchoring our defense in the back,” Brewer said.
Following the home-stand, HPU will conclude its season with a pair of road games on Oahu. The Sea Warriors visit BYUH in Laie Nov. 6. A trip to Chaminade follows Nov. 9.
