Wahine soccer: Get chance

The Hawaii soccer team has a new mantra for the 2014 season.

“Get Chance,” or “#GetChance” on Twitter, is a wink toward the difficult slate the Rainbow Wahine must contend with (especially in nonconference) in the coming weeks.

UH opens up against Arizona State of the Pac-12 at 5 p.m. on Sunday and comes right back with Texas of the Big 12 at 5 p.m. on Monday. Defending national champion UCLA is also on the home schedule, on Sept. 5.

The Rainbow Wahine will be considered underdogs in each of those matches. Sometimes by a wide margin, but as their slogan suggests, they believe they can win.

At this early stage in the preseason, nothing has better exemplified the #GetChance spirit than something that happened last week, when the team took a bonding trip to the Big Island. The trip was pushed back from the previous weekend because of the threat of Hurricane Iselle.

Sophomore forward Justine Olotoa, who is likely out for the season after tearing an ACL and MCL at the start of fall practices, accompanied the team via crutches and wheelchair up Mauna Kea for an overnight stay. It wasn’t easy getting to near the summit.

“I know a lot of the kids really want to do well for her (this season),” UH coach Michele Nagamine said. “Hey, they pushed her up Mauna Kea for Pete’s sake. They care about her. Even Tini on crutches got up to 9,000 feet. (It’s) that ohana core value of, ‘nobody gets left behind.’ Boy, did we live that on the Big Island.”