Things are starting to feel like 2024 again for the University of Hawai‘i soccer team.
Just two short years ago, the Rainbow Wahine won their first ever Big West Conference regular season title, going 8-1-1 against conference foes despite going 3-6 during the nonconference slate.
In 2026, the 'Bows challenged themselves with an opening trio of matches against a pair of Big 12 teams in No. 23 Texas Tech (now ranked 14th in the country in Monday's latest IWSOC Coaches Poll) and Kansas State, as well as three-time defending MAC champion Western Michigan. The Rainbow Wahine began that stretch 0-3 but have only lost one other time since then, a 2-0 road loss at current Mountain West leader Colorado College to begin conference play on Sept. 24.
The Rainbow Wahine have been rolling the last five weeks, winning all five of their matches. As of Wednesday, the 'Bows (8-4-1, 5-1 Mountain West) are just one point behind Grand Canyon in the conference standings, positioned to clinch a spot in November's conference tournament.
"It's very similar," Hawai‘i associate head coach Ula Rowe acknowledged in comparing the program's 2024 and 2026 seasons thus far. "We definitely don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but these are the things that you need in order to win championships. You need, obviously, to not give up a lot of goals. You need to win games. You need to kind of close games out. ... I would say defensively, as far as organization and discipline, I think we're a little bit better this year than 2024."
After expanding its horizons to the Mountain West over the summer, coaches across multiple UH sports have emphasized the importance of winning on the road in order to stay in their respective conference races. The Rainbow Wahine did just that last week, defeating San Jose State 2-0 on Oct. 15 and UC Davis 1-0 on Oct. 18.
Defensively, the Rainbow Wahine have pitched eight shutouts and are 13th nationally in shutout percentage. Goalkeeper Kennedy Justin was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week on Monday after submitting consecutive clean sheets, maintaining the team's conference lead in least goals allowed.
"Just super happy for the team," Justin said. "I think for us, the team chemistry is what sets us apart. We're all there for the same mission, so no matter what it is, we're just gonna get the job done. You look at the person next to you, that's why you're playing. That's something you can't teach, and it's something you also can't beat. I'm really happy that we have that for our program."
Of their four remaining regular season contests, the Rainbow Wahine will have three consecutive home contests, starting with Grand Canyon on Saturday at 3 p.m., followed by UNLV on Oct. 28 and senior day against New Mexico on Nov. 1.
"We're all trying to stay humble," Rowe says. "We're all trying to stay grounded because if you watch any sort of sports, and if you watch women's college soccer from week in and week out in games, you understand that there's some teams that have won early on and now are struggling to finish their season. The excitement is there, but we're just trying to keep level-headed and we just want to take it one game at a time.
"We know exactly the position we're in because we felt it before, but I also think we just need to stay grounded. We need to just take one game at a time and just keep chopping at it right now."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
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