Hawaii soccer program must wait until at least 2026 for on-campus home games – Spectrum News

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The yearslong wait for the Hawaii soccer program to play regular on-campus games will stretch for at least another season.
UH released its full 20-game 2025 schedule on Friday and disclosed that all 10 of its home contests will be played at the familiar Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex, and none at the in-progress venue under construction on the former Cooke Field at the Manoa Lower Campus.
Coach Michele Nagamine had hoped to get in some day games on campus this season, but the construction timetable for the track and soccer venue was pushed back to the point that grass was only recently planted in the middle of the track in May. Nagamine thinks it will be September — about a month into the season — by the time her team takes to the surface for training sessions.
“We’re gonna just kind of roll with it until the field is ready, and when it is ready to play on we will get on it, and I will be the first one to bend down, drop to my knees and kiss the grass,” Nagamine told Spectrum News in a phone interview. “I will be so happy, because this has been a long time coming.”
The UH track and field program got an early look at the $30 million relocation project from the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex in recent weeks. Bleachers must still be added to the former two-tiered Cooke Field practice area and lights for nighttime games are a far-off proposition.
UH, (12-8-1, 8-1-1 Big West in 2024) coming off its first Big West regular-season championship, was forced to make some improvisations in another way, as the NCAA bumped up the national start to soccer season by a week.
Bringing in teams to the islands on a six-month notice proved to be a nonstarter, Nagamine said, so the Rainbow Wahine accepted an offer of a guarantee game by Big West rival Long Beach State to play a rare nonconference game against a conference opponent in the teams’ Aug. 14 season opener. It means UH will play at LBSU twice in the coming season; the teams open up the 10 games of Big West play in Long Beach on Sept. 18.
As was the case with LBSU coach Mauricio Ingrassia, Nagamine received what she felt was a fair guarantee offer from another friend in the coaching ranks, Pepperdine’s Tim Ward.
“Opening on the road is never really ideal, but heck, we’ll take it,” Nagamine said. “If we get games like Long Beach and Pepperdine and really try to prep our young players for travel and build some perspective there, yeah, it’s big time.”
It will be a farewell season in the Big West. UH and UC Davis are set to leave to become full members in the Mountain West in the summer of 2026.
UH graduated the Big West Defensive Player of the Year Jacey Jicha but returns the Big West Midfielder of the Year, Nalani Damacion and Goalkeeper of the Year Kennedy Justin from the team that got to host the Big West championships for the first time. All-conference defender Alice Davidson, forward Amber Gilbert and forward Cate Sheahan are also set to return.
Oregon of the Big Ten highlights the home nonconference slate in the Outrigger Soccer Kickoff on Aug. 24.
2025 UH soccer schedule
* — Big West Conference match
Aug. 14 — at Long Beach State
Aug. 17 — at Pepperdine
Aug. 21 — Central Arkansas
Aug. 24 — Oregon
Aug. 28 — Northern Arizona
Aug. 31 — Cal Baptist
Sept. 4 — at Sacramento State
Sept. 7 — at Saint Mary’s
Sept. 11 — Eastern Washington
Sept. 18 — at Long Beach State*
Sept. 21 — at San Diego State
Sept. 28 — UC Santa Barbara*
Oct. 2 — at Cal State Fullerton*
Oct. 5 — at UC Riverside*
Oct. 9 — Cal Poly*
Oct. 12 — UC San Diego*
Oct. 16 — Cal State Northridge*
Oct. 23 — at UC Davis*
Oct. 26 — at Cal State Bakersfield*
Oct. 30 — UC Irvine*
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.

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