Cavaliers come to town to play Rainbow Wahine

It is rare the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine soccer team has the opportunity to play a spring match against a quality team like the Virginia Cavaliers of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The teams will play an exhibition match tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park stadium.

The Cavaliers participated in the NCAA tournament for the 13th consecutive year last fall and advanced to the Sweet 16, where they lost to Texas A&M 2-1 to finish at 12-8-1.

VIRGINIA AT HAWAII When: Tomorrow, 7 p.m. Where: Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park Radio/TV: None Tickets: General admission, $6 adults, $3 students, children 10 and under free. Parking: Free

They have five players, all returning, who were named to SoccerBuzz Magazine's All-Mid-Atlantic Region Teams.

Sophomore forward Jess Rostedt, who led Virginia with nine goals, and junior defender Becky Sauerbrunn were named to the first team.

Sophomore defender Nikki Krzysik and sophomore midfielder Jen Redmond (four goals and a team-leading seven assists), were second-team selections and midfielder/striker Caitlin Miskel was named to the All-Freshman team. She scored three goals and had four assists.

The Cavaliers ended the season ranked 18th in the NSCAA/adidas Top 25 and 21st in the Soccer Buzz Top 30 poll.

The Wahine, who began spring practice 15 days ago, experienced their first losing season since 2000, going 8-11-2.

Coach Pinsoom Tenzing has 10 starters back, including All-Western Athletic Conference players Taryn Fukuroku, Jessica Domingo and Koren Takeyama.

"This is the best match we've ever scheduled in the spring," Tenzing said. "I'm thrilled our team is fortunate enough to play a team of Virginia's caliber in preparation for the fall season. It should be a high-quality match."

Admission is being charged tomorrow. Ticket prices are $6 for adults and $3 for students, with free admission for children 10 and younger.

The athletic department has considered charging admission for a regular-season Rainbow Wahine match, but has never done so.

Hawaii associate athletic director Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano said tomorrow is not a test to see if admission might be charged in the future.

"We want to see if we can raise some money to help with the expenses of putting on the match," said Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano.