Teani Arakawa was named the 2023 preseason player of the year in women’s soccer for the PacWest Conference — she has more than lived up to the billing.

The 5-foot-1 junior forward for the University of Hawaii at Hilo out of King Kekaulike High School leads the PacWest in goals (seven), is tied for first in assists (four) and game-winning goals (three), and her total points (18) is eight more than second-best in the conference.

She is also third in shots (26), and tied for second in shots on goal (17).

“We’re having a lot of fun, obviously,” Arakawa said via phone Thursday morning after practice. “I think from last year we won PacWest and this year again we’re trying to push to get even further than the year before as a team and individually.”

The transfer from South Dakota State, where she was second team all-Summit League for an NCAA Division I tournament team in 2021, said last season that Hilo had become her second home. That feeling has only grown stronger this season.

“Honestly, yeah, I am a lot more comfortable this year than last year because that was my first year and I was still kind of getting used to how everything ran and the players,” Arakawa said. “It was different, but in a good way. I am now going into my junior year and second season with Hilo, I am a lot more comfortable like I said. I’m familiar with the coaching and the players, so I have that bit of a better connection than I did last year.”

Vulcans head coach Gene Okamura took that thought even further. Arakawa had eight goals and four assists in 17 matches last year.

“I think she’s a lot better than last year — I think her confidence is — and just her pure desire to want to be the best and her want to score goals this year is way higher,” Okamura said. “Last year we had like eight seniors, so it kind of naturally was like we had a lot of older leadership where we lost a lot of those players. So, someone — player or players — had to step up into that role and she took it by the horns and kind of just ran with it.

“Yeah, she’s definitely stepped into that leadership role and has taken it upon herself to lead this group. So, yeah, she’s come a long way since last year — she’s more out of her shell this year than she was last, more comfortable.”

Arakawa is the unquestioned leader and captain for a team that is ranked No. 6 in the nation at the NCAA Division II level. The ranking matches the Vulcans’ all-time best for their women’s soccer program — they are 7-0-1 overall and 3-0-0 in PacWest play with their next six matches slated for home and their final one set for Honolulu, against Chaminade, before the NCAA D-II tournament begins Nov. 16.

The Vulcans’ only loss in a 13-1-3 season last year came on their home field in the second round of the NCAA tournament when they fell 2-1 in overtime to Concordia Irvine, a team they beat 3-1 in California two weeks earlier. The Vulcans were hosting the NCAA first and second rounds — they received a bye in the first round — as the top-seeded team in the West Region, a position they find themselves in again.

“I feel that we’re just trying to work day by day to improve from that and hopefully make it even further than we did that first round because we lost to Concordia and we beat them in the PacWest Conference,” Arakawa said. “And that was a little bit of a downfall for us because we beat them, but I think it’s only a push to do better and try to accomplish even further.”

The Vulcans have 13 NCAA D-I transfers and the roster includes 11 players from California, two from Colorado, one each from Oregon, Washington, Utah, New Mexico and Michigan. There are also two players from Sweden, and one from Canada to go along with six from Hawaii.

“The connection and team chemistry is pretty good, I feel,” Arakawa said. “For me, I get along with everybody, so everybody has their way of leading things and whatnot, so as a leader I just listen to what everybody has to say and if I need say something then I’ll put it out there. … It’s a good group of girls.”

There is little doubt, this group is loaded. They have outscored their opponents 22-3 and have outshot those opponents 149-48.

“I feel that we have a lot of potential of getting further than we did last year,” Arakawa said. “Going from NCAA D-I, I can definitely tell the difference of the playing levels. D-I was definitely a higher type of playing level with physicality, all that technical work, and coming back to a D-II I feel that everyone has their potential of going D-I.”

When asked if there is a little bit of a collective chip on the Vulcans’ shoulders to show everyone that they can play, the soft-spoken Arakawa pondered her answer for a moment.

“Honestly, yeah, UH Hilo won PacWest champs, they were co-champs the year before I came in and we won again last year,” she said. “We feel that we have a big target on our backs because everybody is out to get us and try to take us down and we’re only going to keep pushing from here to win again.”

Arakawa’s older sister Tiera played for the Vulcans from 2015-18 — Okamura was an assistant for the team before taking over the top job in 2016.

“I probably had conversations with my sister about what it was like here at Hilo, because I could have come here my freshman year,” Teani Arakawa said. “I know she enjoyed it, so I took that into consideration — ‘Oh, she enjoyed it, so I probably will, too,’ which I definitely am.

“She just tells me to do my best, ‘go out there, have fun and (smile).’ I am glad that I made the decision to come back home because I was, yeah, homesick.”

Arakawa is definitely where she belongs.

“It’s my home, so I get to go out, go to the beach where I love to go,” she said. “It’s just awesome because my family can come over to visit more often than if I was still in South Dakota. Regardless, I had fun in South Dakota as well, but coming back home, I love it.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.