HONOLULU — The heights and times recorded on the first day of fall camp provided University of Hawai’i soccer coach Michele Nagamine with a measure of the team’s efforts through the summer.
The Rainbow Wahine formally opened preparations for the season with conditioning assessments on Tuesday morning and Nagamine praised their overall performance in their first test of the season.
“The intensity that they had, just the look in their eyes when they were lining up to start the testing, it was pretty cool to see,” Nagamine said. “And it was obvious at the end everybody did their job this summer.”
The Wahine jumped into team drills in Tuesday’s afternoon practice and have eight more sets of double-days lined up on the grass practice field — along with single sessions on Saturdays — leading into an exhibition match with Houston Christian on Aug. 13 at Waipi’o Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
They’ll officially open the 15-match regular-season schedule against Utah Valley on Aug. 17 in the Outrigger Soccer Kickoff. They’ll cap the weekend against Gonzaga on Aug. 20.
The Rainbow Wahine return 19 players off of last year’s roster, including nine starters — four of whom received All-Big West recognition.
Midfielder Eliza Ammendolia, who returns for her fifth year in the program, was voted to the all-conference first team for the second time in her career. Junior defender Jacey Jicha made the second team and forward Krista Peterson was an honorable mention pick. Forward Amber Gilbert was named to the All-Freshman team after a dynamic debut season.
Peterson led the team with five goals last season followed by Gilbert’s four. Kelci Sumida, an All-Big West second-team pick in 2021, tied Peterson for the team lead with four assists and is also back for her fifth year.
The returnees are joined by eight newcomers to the 26-player roster, who impressed their new teammates during player-run workouts during the summer.
“They’re not comfortable with just sitting on the bench, they want to come in and they want to make an impact,” Sumida said. “I think that’s really good because that pushes all of the returners and all of the freshmen coming into step up and everyone’s going to be competing for a spot this year.”
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