THIS WEEK
Tuesday, Sept. 19, UH Hilo (0-2) at Cal State Los Angeles (5-1), Jesse Owens Track, Los Angeles, 1 p.m. PT
Thursday, Sept. 21, UH Hilo at California Baptist (4-0-1), Lancer Soccer Field, Riverside, 4 p.m. PT
Saturday, Sept. 23, UH Hilo at Concordia (1-2-1), Eagles Field, Irvine, Calif., 4 p.m. PT
Tuesday, Sept. 26, UH Hilo at Azusa Pacific (0-4), Cougar Soccer Complex, Azusa, Calif., 7:30 p.m PT
(Link to Live Stats for all matches available at www.hiloathletics.com)

Hilo Headlines: After over two weeks without a match, the Vulcan men's soccer team will have a bushel full this week during a trip to southern California. They open at Cal State LA on Tuesday, a team that was picked to finish second in the CCAA pre-season poll. They follow that with their Pacific West Conference opener at PWC favorite California Baptist, then to Concordia (picked second in the pre-season poll) and always tough Azusa Pacific wraps up four matches in eight days.

Remember When?: When we last checked in with the Vulcans, they were opening their season on Oahu over Labor Day weekend. In a pair of non-conference matches against PacWest teams, UH Hilo fell to Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade. Against the Sharks, the Vulcans scored first and had a 1-0 lead at the break, but HPU scored four times after intermission for a 4-1 win. Against Chaminade, the two teams took a 1-1 tie into a short-lived overtime, where the Silverswords scored less than two minutes into extra time to claim the match, 2-1.

Scoring Column: Two newcomers have scored the Vulcans' two goals thus far, while veterans have supplied the assists. Freshman Bryan Reynoso (Brea, Calif.) and Xahil McDonald (Humboldt State/Seattle, Wash.) tallied the scores, while assists went to returnees senior Jake Sagami and sophomore Jonathan Garcia.

Just Gene: "We didn't need a break quite that long," said head coach Gene Okamura of the two-week hiatus. "It just worked out that way. It did give us some time to work on some things. We did some good things during that first weekend, but still had lots to work on. We now face a pretty difficult challenge with these next four matches. For our new players, they will get a taste of PacWest life on the road against some very good teams."

Mixing It Up: The Vulcans have 12 returnees from their 2016 squad, eight of whom saw consistent starting time. In addition to that group, 14 newcomers dot the roster, comprised of seven transfers and seven freshmen.

Fantastic Four: The opponents in the coming eight days read like a murderer's row. First up on Tuesday are the Golden Eagles of Cal State LA, a squad off to a 5-1 start. Picked to finish second in the power-packed CCAA, Cal State LA has wins over two PWC schools in Point Loma (3-0) and Concordia (2-1), with their only loss coming to conference rival Cal Poly Pomona, 2-1. The Golden Eagles went 10-6-3 last season, losing to Sonoma State in the CCAA conference semi-finals. The Vulcans and Golden Eagles have met only twice and CSLA leads the all-time series, 2-0.
California Baptist is ranked No. 20 in this week's United Soccer Coaches' Top 25 poll, jumping out to a 4-0-1 start. The PWC pre-season favorites have shut out three of their opponents--Cal State San Bernardino (4-0), Cal State San Marcos (7-0) and Northwest Nazarene (5-0), and they blasted No. 19 ranked Chico State, 4-1. That doesn't even include two exhibition wins over UC Riverside (7-0) and Pomona-Pitzer (5-0). Their only non-win was against Sonoma State, a 1-1 tie. Aidan Apodaca leads the NCAA in scoring with 6.20 points a match, after scoring five times against NNU, a school record, and he also had three scores against Chico State. The Lancers lead the all-time series versus the Vulcans (5-1) and they won last year's meeting in Hilo, 3-0. 
Concordia, picked to finished second in the PacWest, is 1-2-1 on the season heading into a Thursday match with Hawaii Pacific. The Eagles have a 5-0 win over Cal State San Bernardino to their credit and a 2-2 tie to pre-season CCAA favorite UC San Diego, and losses to Cal State San Marcos (2-1) and Cal State Los Angeles (2-1). Senior Connor Gordon has four goals and an assist in three matches to lead Concordia. The Eagles lead the all-time series against UHH (2-0), and they won last year's match in Hilo, 5-1.
Azusa Pacific, picked to finish fifth in the PacWest pre-season poll, is off to a surprising 0-4 start heading into a Thursday match-up at Point Loma. They lost to No. 15 Cal Poly Pomona (5-1), to Cal State Dominguez Hills (4-3), UC San Diego (2-1) and Northwest Nazarene (3-1). Senior Kaleb Armbrust, who father also played at APU, has a goal and three assists to lead the Cougars. Azusa has won all four matches in the series with the Vulcans, including last years' 3-1 victory in Hilo.

Welcome Home: After the brutal four-match swing through southern California, the Vulcans will come home for the first time this season, hosting Academy of Art on Sept. 30 and Holy Names on Oct. 3. The Vulcans will play all of their home matches this year at Paiea Stadium on the campus of Kamehameha School in Keaau.

The Coach: Gene Okamura enters into his second season as the leader of the men's and women's soccer programs at UH Hilo. The former Vulcan player and UH Hilo graduate served three seasons as an assistant prior to getting the director's job, and was also the head coach at Kamehameha School, where his team finished second in the HHSAA State Championships in 2015-16. The local product (Waiakea HS) is the Director of Coaching for Hawaii Big Rush and Haaheo Soccer Clubs.