Wahine try to buck Big West struggles

UPDATE: Well, here’s what happened to UH against UC Irvine on Friday night …

It’s no secret that Big West Conference play has been difficult for the Hawaii soccer team.

UH (5-3-1), picked to finish last of nine teams by the league’s coaches in the preseason, put together a solid nonconference record. Now Michele Nagamine and her young team find out if they can shock some people when it matters most.

The Wahine open at defending regular-season champ UC Irvine at 4 p.m. (HST) today in a game being broadcast on ESPN3.

Here’s how UH has fared in six years of Big West play to date against each conference opponent, broken down by home and away. Going into today, UH is 11-33-5 in Big West games, including 2-20-3 in Big West road games. However, UH has fared better at UC Irvine than anywhere else, going 1-1-1 there since 2012.

Cal Poly: LLLLLT (0-5-1 overall, 0-2-1 home, 0-3 away)
Cal State Fullerton: LLLLLL (0-6 overall, 0-3 home, 0-3 away)
Cal State Northridge: LWTLLL (1-4-1 overall, 1-2 home, 0-2-1 away)
Long Beach State: LTLLTL (0-4-2 overall, 0-1-1 home, 0-3-1 away)
Pacific*: W (1-0 overall, 1-0 home, 0-0 away)
UC Davis: WWLLWL (3-3 overall, 2-1 home, 1-2 away)
UC Irvine: TLWLLL (1-4-1 overall, 0-3 home, 1-1-1 away)
UC Riverside: WLWLWL (3-3 overall, 3-0 home, 0-3 away)
UC Santa Barbara: LWLLLW (2-4 overall, 2-1 home, 0-3 away)

* — no longer a conference member