(photos courtesy of Joseph Poellot/UHH)

A pair of soccer seniors are this week's UH Hilo Pepsi Athletes of the Week .

Kaleihalia Tolentino-Perry missed the Vulcans' first two matches of the year, but returned for their home openers to help give his team a boost. The former Hilo High School star had a goal during a 3-2 overtime loss to No. 17 nationally ranked Seattle Pacific, and then had an assist during UHH's 3-2 victory over Western Washington. "Kalei had two solid performances and showed great leadership," said his coach Paul Regrutto. 

Senior defender Caesar Hjerten played very well during UH Hilo's two tight matches against Seattle Pacific and Western Washington. The Sweden native knocked home a header on a corner kick to give his squad a 2-0 lead early in the second half against the Vikings, and he played all 98 minutes of the overtime clash against the Falcons. "Caesar organized and solidfied our back line," said Vulcan head coach Paul Regrutto. "He played very well on defense and additionally chipped in a goal to help us on the attacking side of things."

Tolentino-Perry, Hjerten and the Vulcans will open Pacific West Conference play on Wednesday at home against two-time defending champion Azusa Pacific. Start time is 2:30 pm HT and is available on video stream (no fans allowed in person).