SEATTLE, Wash.--UH Hilo women's head soccer coach Gene Okamura will square off on Thursday at the NCAA West Region tournament against a team that in many ways is a lot like his.

UH Hilo, the No. 5 seed, will take on No. 4 Sonoma State in a First Round match at Seattle's Interbay Stadium. The match begins at 11 am Hawaii Time. Links to the video stream and Live Stats can be found at hiloathletics. com. The winner of the match faces host and No. 1 seed Seattle Pacific on Saturday at noon HT.

The Vulcans (12-3) gained the Pacific West Conference's automatic qualifier into the postseason, while Sonoma State (14-5) entered via an at-large berth. The Seawolves won the California Collegiate Athletic Association regular season title before falling to Cal State East Bay in the CCAA tournament.

Okamura's teams have always been built around defense. The Vulcans gave up just seven goals in 14 matches, a 0.50 goals against average. In Sonoma State, UHH's see a mirror image. The Seawolves have allowed just 10 goals in 19 matches, a GAA of 0.462. 

SSU had the CCAA Defensive Player of the Year in Julia Pritchard. She has helped her team post shutouts in 11 of their 17 matches. Lexi Zandonella-Arasa and Malia Falk led the offensive with five goals each. In going 8-3 in conference play this year, the Seawolves have won back-to-back CCAA regular season titles. They are also making their sixth straight NCAA tournament appearance and 17th overall in school history. Head coach Emiria Salzmann is making her eighth trip to the postseason.

There are two things that separate the Vulcans and Seawolves. One, this is just UH HIlo's first conference co-title and NCAA tournament berth. Two, Okamura also has plenty of offense to counter his stout defense. 

Daelenn Tokunaga is top scorer in the West Region with 13 goals scored and four assists (30 points). She was named the PacWest Player of the Year, and offensively she is supported by the PWC Newcomer of the Year Filippa Graneld, who added five goals and five assists (15 points). Defensively, Viviana Poli was named the PacWest Goalkeeper of the Year  and Jodi Lillie was a First Team selection as a defender, her fourth All-PacWest award.

"This is really big for Hilo, helping to put us out there in the soccer world," said Okamura. "We have received a lot of messages from alumni and coaches congratulating us.

"Our goal before the start of the season was to win the conference and go to the NCAA's. Our mindset has changed now. We don't want this to end here and will do everything in our ability to keep this going."