The 2019-20 UH Hilo women's golf team will be young, even by Vulcan standards.

Last year's UHH team led by senior Andi Igawa, featured four total upperclassmen and then a number of newcomers. This year? Younger. Much younger.

When the Vulcans tee off the season on Sept. 16-17 in British Columbia at the True North Classic, three sophomores, two freshmen and a senior will be on the scorecard.

The good news is, this is one promising group of underclassmen.

"It's a very young team that has a lot of skills," said head coach Jim DeMello. "But they have very little experience. I am really excited about this group, but their best days may in the future."

DeMello saw a glimpse of part of that future a year ago at the Pacific West Conference Championships. Then a freshman, Carli Shimokihara shot a 73 on the first day of the tournament, putting herself in third place. She would end up at 19^th two days later, but for 24 hours she was in the championship hunt.

Fellow sophomore Kaelyn Uchida also had a good freshman campaign last spring. She finished third on the team with an 86.10 scoring average and was 16^th at the PacWest Championships. For the Canada tournament at least, the sophomore duo of Shimokihara and Uchida will play numbers one and two respectively.

Freshman Michelle Kim begins the year at No. 3, and Kiri Oshiro, a redshirt last season, is No. 4. Kim was a First-Team All-OIA selection last year at Kalani High School on Oahu, while Oshiro played in nine tournaments as a true freshman for the Vulcans in 2017-18.

Freshman Taryn Taguma qualified to make the British Columbia trip, as did senior Keely Kitamura. Taguma, from Kauai, is a two-time winner of the Kauai Interscholastic Federation title. Kitamura, is the veteran of the group, in her fifth year at UH Hilo, having redshirted as a freshman back in 2015-16.

Others battling for playing time will include senior Kristeena Locke (Maui), along with freshmen Tia Kualii (Hilo/Waiakea HS) and Michele Fang (Vancouver, BC).

"It's nice to have a big roster," DeMello said. "There is competition each week. All of them can hit the ball well."

The Vulcans will return home after the Canada tournament and prep for another trip to the Northwest, this time to Olympia, Wash. for the St. Martin's Invitational (Oct. 4-5) and then to Portland (Oct. 7-8) for the Concordia Invitational.

"The girls have been working hard for two weeks," DeMello said. "With most of our girls being from Hawaii, along with being so young, I expect that we will play our best golf late in the year when it is warmer and we have more experience."

UH Hilo will host the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate at Waikoloa, Oct. 28-30, and then won't play again until February. After Christmas break, DeMello's team will play tournaments in Texas and Arizona before hosting the PacWest Championships at Waikola, April 20-22.

The Vulcans have been on the back end of the results board at the PacWest tournament for the past few seasons, since last winning the title in 2014. Kristen Sawada was the medalist that season for UHH, the program's best finish.

"Our goal this year is to get back up into the top three of the conference," said DeMello, who has been the coach of the program since it began in 2004-05. "This is a young team with a lot of talent and the sky is the limit for them."