Strom-Okimoto honored again

For carrying her team the closest it’s ever been to Big West tournament qualification at this point in the season, soccer senior Raisa Strom-Okimoto was honored by the Big West as the conference’s offensive player of the week on Monday.

The Aiea alumna’s hat trick in a 4-0 win at Cal Poly on Friday was the 13th in program history, from the seventh person.

Here’s the complete list of Wahine players to score three or more goals in a match:
Natasha Kai: 7 times (Tulsa 2002, Boise State 2002, Utah Valley State 2003, Morehead State (five goals) 2003, at Nevada (four goals) 2003, Fresno State 2003, Nevada 2005)
Veronica Flores: 1 (Boise State 2001)
Vanessa Bailey: 1 (Hawaii Pacific 2007)
Kelli-Anne Chang: 1 (Idaho 2007)
Britta Bourne: 1 (at Idaho 2009)
Tiana Fujimoto: 1 (Idaho State 2013)
Raisa Strom-Okimoto: 1 (at Cal Poly 2018)

UH was shut out in a 1-0 loss at UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, but Strom-Okimoto kept things frisky with a couple of quality opportunities that the Gauchos narrowly turned aside.

Her weekly award was her second of the season and second career.

Going into the final week of the regular season, she leads the conference in goals with 11 and points with 25. Her 11 goals are the most in a season by a UH player since Taryn Fukuroku and Ambree Ako each had 12 in 2007. Eleven ranks eighth on the Wahine list of single-season goals. In career goals, she alone in sixth at 21.

UH plays perhaps its two biggest Big West matches since joining the conference this week, both at home: Thursday (7 p.m.) vs. UC Riverside and Sunday (2 p.m.) vs. Cal State Fullerton.

Practically speaking, UH (3-3 Big West, nine points) is battling UC Davis (3-2-1, 10 points), and Riverside (2-2-2, eight points) for the final of four Big West tournament berths. UH likely needs two wins, or at the very least a win and a tie in order to qualify.