The University of Hawaii women’s soccer team is slated to play two home matches this week at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium, starting with UC San Diego on Thursday night.
The homestand marks as a significant stage in their campaign in the Big West Conference. Currently, the Lady Bows hold a record of 1-1-1 through their first three matches in the conference. This week presents a big opportunity for Hawaii to keep pace in the competitive race.
Among the highlights of last week’s road trip where UH played a 1-1 draw with Cal State Fullerton and lost 1-0 to UC Riverside was sophomore defender Zoe Park making the most of a rare scoring opportunity during a match at Fullerton.
“Yeah, it felt really good as a defender, you know, we don’t really score too many goals. We’ve actually been practicing corner kicks a lot this year. Just in the moment you’re right in front of goal…then you just got to just put it away,” said Park, reminiscing her goal.
Head Coach Michele Nagamine praised Park’s performance, hoping to use it as a metaphor moving forward.
“Zoe’s just such a good person and such a good player and she’s one of our strongest defenders. And to see her go up and just finish that ball, we talk about that all the time. You’re a defender. You’re probably not going to get a lot of opportunities, but when you do find yourself in and around the goal, make sure that you’re making the most of it. And that’s exactly what she did,” remarked Nagamine.
At the moment, with four points in the conference, Hawaii currently sits in second place of the Big West standings.
The Rainbows will face UC San Diego on Thursday at 7:00pm followed by UC Irvine on Sunday at 5:00pm.
The match against the Tritons on Thursday will be televised on Spectrum Sports.
