SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Hawai’i Hilo women’s soccer claimed its first-ever NCAA postseason victory after edging out Concordia, 3-1, Thursday morning in the NCAA West Regional First Round held at Point Loma Nazarene University.
“It’s the first NCAA Tournament win for our program so it’s very big,” Vulcans ninth-year head coach Gene Okamura said. “Super proud of the girls for the work they put in and execution of the tactics and game plan we talked about. Hopefully we can do it again on Saturday.”
The Vulcans advance to Saturday’s NCAA West Regional Second Round with another rematch set against newly-crowned Pacific West Conference Champion and reigning NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer National Champion Point Loma. Hawai’i Hilo had just matched up with both CUI (W 4-2) and PLNU (L 3-2, 2OT) in the semifinals and title match, respectively, of last week’s inaugural PacWest Conference Championships postseason tournament.
“Obviously playing Concordia, one of the top teams in the country all year, and playing them twice in the week was a little nerve-wracking. Playing once in a year is tough so hats off to them,” Okamura said.
Soccer Vulcans
earn Academic
All-District honors
Twelve total Hawai’i Hilo Vulcans soccer student-athletes were selected to the 2024 Men’s and Women’s Soccer Academic All-District Team.
Men’s Soccer:
Colby Lee, Tom Vorkastner, Koki Hamada, Gabriel Gallardo, Palli Ingvason, Felix Drizinsky.
Women’s Soccer:
Filippa Graneld, Teani Arakawa, Alyssa Padron, Alia Bournay, Jazlynn Ellis, Phoebe Barnes
The 2024 Academic All-District Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom, requiring a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5 with sophomore standing and above. Eligible nominees must have competed in 90 percent of the institution’s games played or have started in at least 66 percent of total matches.
Hamada, Graneld, Arakawa and Padron were also selected for further Academic All-America consideration, which members of CSC will vote on and later announce Dec. 10-11.
