Photo Gallery

HONOLULU – There was a lot to celebrate Friday night at the Hawai'i women's soccer team awards dinner after one of the most successful seasons in program history, both in the classroom and on the field.
 
Hawai'i's 9-6-2 overall record in 2016 marked the team's most wins and highest winning percentage since the 2007 season. The 7.0 win improvement over 2015 season was the fifth-best turnaround in NCAA Division I in 2016, and helped the Rainbow Wahine earn the program's first-ever NSCAA West Region ranking, where the team peaked at No. 4 on Oct. 18.
 
The team's Top Academic Award—given to the student-athlete with the best academic performance during the fall semester—went to senior Lauren Takai. Meanwhile, the team's Most Improved Academic Award, which takes into account academic performance of the past three semesters, went to sophomore Kellsie Gleason.
 
The Spring Season Outstanding Competitor Award, which recognized the player who accumulated the most points during spring individual and team competitions, went to junior Keala Parker-Lee.
 
The Rainbow Wahine coaching staff voted junior Paige Okazaki as the recipient of the Most Improved Player award. After making four starts as a sophomore in 2015, Okazaki started every game and played 1,555 minutes in the field—the second most on the team—while helping the Hawai'i defense to seven shutouts and scoring the game-winning goal at Denver on Sept. 11.
 
Senior Addie Steiner was voted by her teammates as the recipient of the Outstanding Competitor Award. The award goes a relentless competitor who never gives up, perseveres in the face of adversity and is always pushing herself to be the best she can be on and off the field. Steiner finished the season with a team-high eight goals, including four game-winners, and added one assist. She was a two-time Big West Player of the Week, first team all-Big West and first-team NSCAA all-West Region selection in 2016.
 
The final award of the night was the Coach Kat Award. The award, named for former Hawai'i assistant coach Kathy Carey, is voted on by the team and given to the player who epitomizes the same spirit of selflessness and giving that Coach Kat bestowed upon the Rainbow Wahine soccer team. Junior Dani Crawford, a team captain who started every game in 2016, received the prestigious award.
 
Hawai'i set the program record for most consecutive games with a goal, scoring in the first 13 games of 2016. The team had a seven-match home winning streak, two shy of the program record, and finished with a 7-1-2 record at home, the best home mark since 2012, which included a nine-match home unbeaten streak (7-0-2).
 
The Rainbow Wahine also earned the NSCAA Team Academic Award and placed 11 players in the Academic All-Big West team, a program record and the most of any Big West women's soccer team in the fall of 2016.