HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine soccer team opens its 2006 season with the OHANA Hotels & Resorts No Ka Oi, Aug. 25-28. UH will host Washington of the Pac-10 and Oklahoma of the Big 12 in the round-robin tournament. For the seventh straight season, Hawai`i`i will play all of its home matches at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium with free admission and parking.

Schedule
Friday, Aug. 25, WASHINGTON, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 26, Oklahoma vs. Washington 7:00 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 28, OKLAHOMA, 5:00 p.m.

Site: Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium

Admission: Free.

Parking: Free.

Television: None

Promotions: OHANA Hotels will be giving out t-shirts following each scored goal by Hawai`i.

Intrasquad Scrimmage: The Rainbow Wahine will play an intrasquad scrimmage Wednesday, August 23 at 6 p.m. The scrimmage will be held at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium and is open to the public.

Injury Report: Senior forward Krisha Kai is out indefinitely with a back injury.

News & Notes: Hawai`i` begins its 13th season on the NCAA Division I Level...UH will aim for its second straight Western Athletic Conference regular-season title and third title in the last four seasons...Hawai`i has been tabbed second in the Western Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll...Fresno State, the 2005 WAC Tournament champions, were picked as the preseason favorite... four all-conference players return for the Rainbow Wahine, including junior midfielder Jessica Domingo (first team), senior forward Krisha Kai (second team), sophomore goalkeeper Kori Lu (second team) and junior defender Koren Takeyama (first team)...both Domingo and Takeyama were named to the 2006 preseason all-WAC team...Pinsoom Tenzing, dean of WAC coaches, begins his 13th year, having picked up his 100th win and first-ever coach of the year award in 2005...UH is 16-2 in its last 18 Western Athletic Conference home matches and hosts Utah State, Louisiana Tech and San Jose State in 2006...Hawai`i is 4-6-2 all-time in season openers and 4-5-2 in home season openers...UH's first four opponents (Washington, Oklahoma, Kent State and Winthrop) are all first-time opponents...three of UH's non-conference opponents appear in Soccer Buzz Magazine's preseason regional rankings...UH's second road opponent, Arizona, ranks 12th in the West region and received votes in the national poll, while Detroit is 15th in the Great Lakes region...also receiving votes in the West region poll is Pacific ...Arizona is ranked 17th nationally in the preseason NSCAA/adidas coaches'poll...UH played four overtime matches last year (1-1-2) and have just one loss in its last 17 overtime matches...The Rainbow Wahine look to end a stretch of four years of one-and-done and win their first WAC Tournament match since 2001...UH will have four home matches televised live on KFVE-TV...they include matches versus San Francisco (Sept. 17), Detroit (Sept. 21), Utah State (Oct. 15) and San Jose State (Oct. 22).

About the Huskies: Washington returns four starters from last year's team, including a quartet of players that started all 20 games...one season after advancing within one game of the Final Four, the Huskies (0-17-3) last year suffered through the first winless season in program history...all but four games were decided by a one-goal margin for the Huskies who lost half of their games (10) by similar 1-0 scores ..Washington was selected to finish ninth in the preseason Pac-10 coaches' poll...the Huskies are scheduled for nine appearances against teams that qualified for last year's NCAA Tournament, including five foes that advanced to the Sweet 16.

About the Sooners: The Sooners return nine starters from last year's squad that finished 13-6-1 and 5-4-1 in the Big 12...the 2005 Sooners set program records for wins (overall and consecutive), goals, assists and points...despite the loss of senior captain Lauren MacIver, the team's leading scorer, the offense in 2006 returns more than 65 percent of its production from a year ago...the Sooners, who won 10 of its first 11 matches last season, were picked to finish sixth in the preseason Big 12 Poll ...Oklahoma played a pair of home exhibition matches last week in a tune-up for this week's tournament...the Sooners defeated TCU, 4-1, and North Texas, 3-2.

-UH-