Rainbow Wahine soccer shifted into a higher gear for first season-opening win since 2017

WAIPI’O — There was some definite rust that needed to be shaken off.

But by the time Thursday night was over, a revelation was realized.

These ladies are capable of taking it to another level.

The Hawai’i Rainbow Wahine soccer team earned their first season-opening win since 2017 after they rallied to a 3-2 win over Georgia Southern to open the season in the Outrigger Soccer Kickoff at Waipi’o Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

Hawai’i faced a 2-1 deficit for nearly 63 minutes of the match, before sophomore Tatum Porter and freshman Nalani Damacion put home their first-ever collegiate goal in the final 11 minutes to secure the victory.

“I’m so glad that they got the win that they deserved,” said Hawai’i head coach Bud Nagamine. “I thought they really climbed nicely, very slow start but progressively got better.”

New additions to the team that provided a spark off the bench played a huge factor in the win, but first let’s talk about the offseason work that all the ladies put in that enabled them to perform down the stretch.

After last season, the team did a deep dive in how they can improve in their strength, conditioning and recovery. With performance and sport scientist Dr. Trevor Short, assistant director of strength & conditioning Josh Elms and assistant head coach Kaula Rowe all contributing to the process, the Rainbow Wahine improved their explosiveness, speed, quickness and agility.

“I think all of the work they did last spring in the weight room and over the summer, it really showed tonight,” Nagamine said.

It even caught Nagamine off guard for a bit.

“It was nice to see in the last 20 minutes when I thought we were going to start running out of gas, they actually turned up the heat in the kitchen a little bit so that was amazing.”

Depth and a stacked group of newcomers were also important.

Coming into the match, Hawai’i knew it would be without captain and senior forward Krista Peterson, who is out for the season with a torn ACL. The team also received some unexpected news before the contest when holding midfielder Izzy Ayala was ruled out for the match for an undisclosed reason.

But the Rainbow Wahine have a “next woman up” mentality and got the job done.

Captain and senior Brynn Mitchell helped tie the game in the 15th minute off Cate Sheahan’s sixth career assist. Freshman Alice Davidson’s nifty footwork inside of the box led to Porter’s equalizer in the 80th minute and senior defender Jacey Jicha’s free kick led to a fight for the ball that ended with Damacion’s go-ahead goal in the 86th minute.

Freshman Laule’a Ah Mook Sang and Delaware State-transfer Jordyn Eldredge Sagapolutele also provided solid minutes off the bench while redshirt freshman Kennedy Justin closed out the final 1:38 in goal after junior Brianna Chirpich — who and six saves in her first career start — had to come out of the match with an injury.

“I just think everybody did so good working together and we couldn’t have done it without that because every single person contributed on that field and I think we just battled our hearts out,” Damacion said.

“To have so many young players step up today, that was something that was so nice to see. The future is definitely bright,” added Nagamine.

“I thought Alice Davidson, she’s a crowd favorite already. You can just hear them ooh-ing and awe-ing when she gets the ball, then Tatum comes in as a sophomore, scores then goal and then we get Nalani. It’s like we had freshman and sophomore delight today. It was just nice to see. I thought that the older players have really set the pace for us and have really brought our freshman into the fold so nicely so I’m thrilled for them.”

Hawai’i play its next match on Sunday against Utah State at 2:30 p.m.