College soccer: For Vulcans, the time to make a move is now

That popular cultural cliche, quality time, takes on a new meaning Saturday for men’s and women’s soccer teams at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

If the quality is going to come through, this is the time.

It seems to happen with clockwork regularity that the Pacific West Conference makes life exceedingly difficult for Vulcans’ teams. Last year it handed the softball team a five-week layoff after the season started, then brought them back into conference play by hosting the top schools in the PWC.

It was just a quirk in the schedule, not a trend, according to the conference.

Now, it’s soccer’s turn to get an unreasonable schedule in a five-week stretch in which the Vulcan are home in Hilo for 13 days. Both teams can salvage their seasons if they convert their brief time on the Big Island into quality performances.

So it’s with some heightened enthusiasm that the Vulcans men’s (0-6; 0-3 PWC), and women’s (3-3-1; 0-2-1 ) teams play host to Academy of Art on Saturday in their home-away-from-home at Kamehameha in Keaau, and then come back Tuesday to play Holy Names, two of the weakest programs in the conference.

“Seems like a long time since we’ve been home,” said Gene Okamura, tasked with coaching both varsity sports in the same season, “it’s good to be home and to build on what we’ve been going through.”

The extended travel away from school results in players having to cram their homework into available time on road trips, and, Okamura said, “just about the time they get caught up in the classroom, we’re back on the road again. They adjust, they get it done, but it isn’t ideal.”

The women’s team has again been the strength of the program, even after returning from the first California trip with an 0-2-1 record against three of the top six teams in the conference.

“We played pretty well, we were close enough to have won those games,” Okamura said, “and that makes these two games even more important.

“These next two (women’s) games,” he said, “are must-win games for us. If we want to contend for a title, we have to win these games.”

That may not be as bold a statement as it sounds. Art U and Holy Names are a combined 0-13-1 this season, and between them have combined for a mere seven goals against 46 goals allowed.

Defensively, the Vulcans’ women have been performing at a high level, having allowed just six goals in seven matches, but the offense has sputtered with some new faces in the lineup and the necessary getting-to-know-you process.

Jaimie Salas, the junior transfer from Arizona State, where she had trouble finding playing time, has been the offensive focal point with four goals so far, enough to get her in the PWC Top 10 in goals.

“It’s not all that representative as far as the opportunities we’ve created,” Okamura said of Salas’ early season scoring. “We have some dangerous players up front and we’ve been creating a lot of good (scoring) opportunities, but we haven’t finished as much as we would like.

“I think it will happen,” he said. “Our forwards are working hard, they have the skills to do this and it’s just taking some time. It would be good if we could change all that for these games.”

Senior Jenna Hufford is second in the conference with two shutouts and an .886 save percentage. If she is on top of her game and the generation of scoring opportunities continues, the Vulcans should be able to get past Art U, a winless team that has scored just three goals this year while conceding 20. Losing to the Urban Knights would surely turn the season in the wrong way and would probably be considered the worst defeat in the past two years under Okamura.

Year-long wait

The UHH men won’t be competing for the championships, or the playoffs or anything else other than gaining a measure of respectability in their second year with Okamura.

The Vulcans are 0-15-1 in their past 16 matches and the last time they won a game of any kind was more than a year ago — September 17, 2016 — when they survived an overtime game at the high school field they appropriate for home games in a 2-1 win over Chaminade.

Unlike the UHH women, hitting two teams that haven’t won a game between them this season, the Vulcan men face an improved Academy of Art side that is 1-1 in conference and has already matched its victory total of a year ago with a 2-3-1 record.

Holy Names is just 1-6, but is coming off its first win, a dominating 4-1 effort at Chaminade and will come to the Big Island after playing Saturday at Hawaii Pacific. UHH lost its second match of the year at Chaminade, a 2-1 overtime decision.

“Challenging,” said Okamura of the men’s team struggles. “It’s still a very young team. Only four seniors (two of them goalkeepers), and you can definitely see that we’ve had our moments, we are just at a place where we can’t sustain the quality.

“The way it has gone, when we get some solid defense going and really do well in the back, then we can’t seem to get an attack going,” he said. “When we get the offense moving, we seem to have trouble in our end.”

Sometimes a victory of any kind, well deserved or a fluke, can be enough to change the atmosphere and get everyone on the same page.

“I think the pieces are there,” Okamura said, “if we can eliminate mistakes in our defensive half it will give us some opportunities. The problem is, when you go back and just play defense, you invite (opponents) to invite pressure and then you can get in even more trouble.

“I know about the record but (the men’s team) they have had some quality minutes, there’s no doubt about that, we’ve played solid at both ends for long stretches, we just haven’t done it for the full 90 (minutes).”

If ever there was a time for both UHH squads, it would be these next two games at home.

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Vulcans soccer

Who: Women, Academy of Art (0-2 PacWest, 0-6-1) at UHH (0-2-1, 3-3-1), 4:30 p.m. Saturday

• Men, Academy-Art (1-1, 2-3-1) at UHH (0-3, 0-6), 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Paiea Stadium, Keaau