RAINBOW WAHINE SOCCER
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Natasha Kai scored 72 goals during her four seasons with the Rainbow Wahine.
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Rainbow Wahine prepare for life after Kai
Coach Pinsoom Tenzing is excited about the group he has coming back for next season
THE Hawaii soccer team overcame injuries to win the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title, but flamed out in the first round of the postseason tournament.
The Rainbow Wahine earned the tournament's No. 1 seed, but did not take advantage of the first-round bye, ending the season on a disappointing note for the fourth consecutive year.
"I can't help but feel that they could have done much better. The injuries conspired in a big way to derail the season. We didn't get preparation time to prepare for the postseason that a healthier team would have had," Wahine coach Pinsoom Tenzing said.
"Having said that, I'm pleased with the way our players got the necessary victories to get the WAC championship. That is quite an achievement. The parity in the WAC was way beyond my expectations. Utah State, Fresno State, San Jose State and Nevada were all quality teams."
The midfield took the biggest injury hit. Freshman Tobi Kanehira came to fall camp hurt and never did play. Senior Seline Williams redshirted after suffering an ACL injury in fall practice. Gabina Bohlman and Jessica Domingo suffered strained knees in the opener, missed three weeks and never regained optimum fitness. Defender Shawn Higa and striker Natasha Kai missed one and two matches, respectively, with strained necks and freshman goalkeeper Kori Lu became ill minutes before the WAC tournament match.
"There is absolutely no doubt we had more injuries than normal," said Tenzing.
The result was a shuffling of players to fill positions that put a damper on the new system Tenzing introduced last spring.
"I don't think what we tried to accomplish with the midfielder came off this year. We had our side midfielders pinch in and hoped to spring our defenders (up field offensively), but we never could depend on it as an offensive weapon," said Tenzing.
"We practiced it, choreographed it and it came off against lesser opponents, but not when the competition got keener. You can never tell what pressure will do to the thinking process of players."
That strategy would have augmented the chosen method of going over the top of the defense to Kai making cutting runs in behind the back line. But without the ability to attack from the wings consistently, a team like Fresno State could drop the back line back to the 18-yard line and let the goalkeeper control the box.
"We spoke about how we wanted to play against FSU. It didn't come off on the field and that is partly my mistake and lack of experience," said Tenzing." I thought we could get around the FSU defense from what we saw the week before, but it wasn't in their repertoire of tactical thinking."
One positive from the injuries was that freshmen Taryn Fukuroku, Tehane Higa and Kelli Anne Chang got more playing time than they might have otherwise.
The defenders -- Koren Takeyama, Krisha Kai, Shawn Higa, Tehane Higa and Lehua Wood -- worked as a starting unit for the first time and had a solid season. They should be even better in the future.
"They are committed players who are not afraid to hear about their mistakes and improve themselves," Tenzing said.
The Wahine need to replace the 72 goals Natasha Kai put in the nets the last four years.
"We chose to play one way this year and it didn't work out. We will have to come up with a different way. I'm excited about that because it will be more of a team effort," said Tenzing. "We're going to have to go through and around defenses. We're going to have to start playing soccer in the true sense of the word."
The Wahine have the school's all-time, single-season assist leader Adria Campbell back to direct the offense.
Tenzing is emphasizing strikers and players he can convert to another position in his recruiting.
"We have a competitive team coming back and they will be joined by significant recruits," he said.