UH-Hilo Women’s Soccer head coach Gene Okamura’s eighth season features 15 games bookended on both sides by a tough trio of top contenders from a year ago.
Fortunately for Vulcans fans, the two-time Pacific West Conference Champions will stay within the state for all six of those matches with five of them to be played on the Vulcan Soccer Field — which now features a limited number of bleacher seating.
Following a season-opening exhibition in late August against Multnomah University, the Vulcans will host Colorado-Colorado Springs (Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinals) and Northwest Nazarene (Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships Runner-Up) on Sept. 3 and 5, respectively. Stanislaus State (California Collegiate Athletic Association Regular Season Co-Champ) will come to town followed by a non-conference tilt with Chaminade to close out the first home stand.
The Vulcans will have nine home matches in 2023 in addition to three games on Oahu, leaving just three out-of-state road contests in northern California.
The latter half of the schedule features NCAA West Regional qualifiers Point Loma Nazarene and Concordia University Irvine. The Golden Eagles managed to end the Vulcans’ season at home last year in the NCAA West Regional Second Round with a 2-1 result in overtime.
Westmont College is new to the PacWest Conference after claiming the Golden Sun Athletic Conference title with an appearance in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round a season ago.
UH-Hilo posted a 13-1-3 record in 2022 on the way to claiming a second-consecutive PacWest Championship and earning a first-ever host site bid for the NCAA Women’s Soccer National Championship West Region. The Vulcans finished the year ranked No. 14 in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25.
The 2023 squad will have 18 returnees in addition to the incoming recruiting class to be announced shortly.
Men’s soccer
The 2023 UH-Hilo men’s soccer schedule will have 16 games on tap in the fall, featuring a six-match home stand at the tail end of Vulcans head coach Garrett Estrin’s second season.
Following a season-opening exhibition match set for Aug. 23 against Multnomah University, the Vulcans will hit the road before returning for their first official home game against San Francisco State on Sept. 10. From there, it’ll be five road contests followed by six home matches at the Vulcan Soccer Field from Oct. 7 through Nov. 4.
Highlighting the non-conference slate will be a Sept. 16 matchup in Carson, California against Estrin’s alma mater CSU Dominguez Hills.
The Toros finished last season as California Collegiate Athletic Association runner-up and made a short post-season run to the NCAA Super Regional 4 Third Round.
The Vulcans will kick-off the Pacific West Conference season with a trip to northern California marked by a Sept. 28 matchup against defending co-champ Dominican.
Biola was the PacWest’s other co-champion last fall and will make the trip to the Big Island on Oct. 16.
The PacWest schedule will also feature conference newcomer Westmont College, who went 9-5-2 in NAIA play last season with a finish in the Golden Sun Athletic Conference Tournament.
UH-Hilo will look to build on an eighth-place finish in 2022 after going 3-5-2 in PacWest play with a 4-8-4 overall finish.
The Vulcans will have 15 returnees from a season ago in addition to a new group of incoming players to be announced shortly.