CALIFORNIA – A big week for Hawai'i Hilo Women's Soccer ended with sweeping the Pacific West Conference weekly awards for Player of the Week, Defender of the Week and Team of the Week. Reigning PacWest Conference Player of the Year Teani Arakawa and reigning PacWest Conference Goalkeeper of the Year Phoebe Barnes were announced Monday afternoon as recipients of the weekly individual accolades after going 1-0-1 with a scoreless draw against Cal State San Bernardino and a key 4-0 victory over No. 8 Seattle Pacific.
It was a record-breaking performance for Arakawa not only with a hat-trick of three goals and an assist against the eighth-ranked Falcons, but also for becoming the Hawai'i Hilo Women's Soccer program's all-time career leader with 54 points and counting — surpassing Kristine Pasek (Stancil) (11-14). The Maui native joined the Vulcans in fall of 2022 as a sophomore transfer and now carries career totals of 21 goals and 12 assists.
"Maybe looking back when I'm done, I can really see that the hard work paid off — coming to practices, working out on my own during the summers," Arakawa said. "Hopefully, other girls will follow and maybe wanting to get past the mark I've made here. But for now, I'm just taking it day by day and working on the things we need to work on."
On the other end of the field, Barnes has kept a clean sheet through the first three games of the season, coming up with five total saves through last week's two matches.
"All three shutouts we had on the road have been a team effort," Barnes said. "We only really have one starting returner in the backline so we really wanted to come out and work as a unit."
The Vulcans also earned PacWest Conference Team of the Week distinction for their top-10 upset of Seattle Pacific.
From PacWest Release:
Hawai'i Hilo didn't have the best experience the last time it visited Interbay Stadium in Seattle in 2021, falling to Sonoma State, 5-1, in its first-ever NCAA Tournament match. Last Saturday, it went the opposite direction with a 4-0 win over Seattle Pacific on the turf next to the Space Needle. The defending GNAC champs, ranked No. 8 in the Sept. 10 national poll, had outscored their 2024 opponents, 9-2, before facing the Vulcans. They are picked to finish second in this fall's conference race. Teani Arakawa had a foot in all four Vulcan scores, while Hilo limited the Falcons to nine shots and just two on goal. Earlier in the week, UHH fought to a 0-0 draw with CS San Bernardino with UHH goalkeeper Phoebe Barnes collecting three saves.
