Hawaii soccer: Midseason Q&A with Michele Nagamine

The Hawaii soccer team plays two of its biggest matches of Michele Nagamine’s nine years at the helm of the program this week.

Those matches — Thursday night against Cal Poly and Sunday against UC Santa Barbara — happen to be the last two home matches of the season.

UH (5-6-2, 3-0-1 Big West), after a tough start to the season that included losses to three ranked Pac-12 opponents, has turned things around at midseason to post the program’s best record through four games of conference play, going back to the first WAC season of 1996. The best was previously 3-1 in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2011.

After picking up a win and a draw on the road last week, the Wahine are still on track to make the four-team Big West tournament for the first time.

Sophomore Kayla Ryan’s four goals have all come in Big West play, and fellow forward Kayla Watanabe has had her breakout moment as well. Freshman Eliza Ammendolia has sparked the attack from midfield, the back line has held steady and senior goalkeeper Lex Mata has so far turned in a Big West defensive player of the year-caliber performance between the pipes.

Nagamine spoke to Warrior World in advance of the 7 p.m. televised (Spectrum) matchup against Cal Poly (4-9-1, 1-2-1) about what’s allowed the success to happen this year, and how her coaching staff’s approach has changed with the times. Here’s an annotated Q&A of that conversation:

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Warrior World: How do you guys feel going into this final home week?
Michele Nagamine: You know, we’re feeling pretty good. We’ve got a couple of injuries that we’re just keeping an eye on. But for the most part, everybody is where they need to be mentally and I’m excited to just play (Thursday) night. I think we’re all, including the other teams in the Big West, I think we’re just dying to know how this whole thing’s going to play out.

WW: What’s it been like in the position you’re at now at the midpoint of the conference season? Has it changed your approach?
MN: I think the most important thing for us as coaches has been to keep it real with the kids. We are well aware that we haven’t been in this position before. There’s a lot of hype, a lot of people are very excited to see us play this weekend at home. So I’m hoping there’s going to be some good crowds out at Waipio this week, especially with senior night on Sunday. Really celebrated this class that has catapulted us into another level of mental toughness and stick-to-it-iveness. Because this class has been the class that really helped us as coaches understand the millennials, so to speak. I laugh about it, but it is really, really true. They have helped us understand the way they think, the way they process information and learn. And that’s helped to make us better coaches. It’s something people talk about all the time: how you communicate with this new generation. They’re just so technically savvy but sometimes emotionally, not as overly sensitive as we are. They’re a very accepting, creative generation. But also they’ve had a lot of things done for them by their parents. So this generation as a whole has been a new one for me, and Marc (assistant Fournier) and Rachael (assistant Doyle). … But it’s funny to me to see how the kids have changed. Even just in the nine years that I’ve been at UH. You know, when I was playing, ‘because I said so’ was good enough for me. If my coach said, ‘hey, we’re going to run 30 times up and down that hill,’ I never questioned it. I would just be like, ‘well, we’re going to do it because he said so.’ (laughs) But now with all the information, the kids nowadays are just very inquisitive. It’s not for wanting to be obnoxious or disrespect authority. It’s because they genuinely want to know. This is an information generation — an iGen. But what I think our senior class has done for us helped us to be better communicators, better listeners, and trust them to implement a lot of our vision. And I 100% stand behind the fact that this class has helped us to be better. It’s helped us be a lot more calm as we approach the midpoint of the season, which is traditionally the most stressful. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m not stressed, because I’ve got my fair share of stress, just like everybody else, but I think this team … has helped me a lot more reflective and thoughtful in my approach to communicating with them. It’s been very interesting for me, because I found myself kind of reflecting on a lot of things I’ve done in the past, and recognizing that hey, I’m kind of an emotional subber. If somebody makes me mad, I just want to yank them out and give somebody else a chance. You know, I think this team has really helped me, Marc and Rachael to get our groove as a staff. They’ve made us better.

WW: Interesting.
MN: Yeah, and you’re asking how we handle this point in the season. Well, the reality is, we’ve never been in this position before, but we can’t even focus on 3-0-1 and celebrating that, because we are scarred by so many things that have happened in the past (laughs), that we just don’t want the team to experience some of that pain that us, our senior and our junior class have experienced. The freshmen and sophomores, they don’t know the other side of it. They’ve been here when we’ve been organized and successful. And that’s their experience. In the past we’ve had some success, but we’ve also had some pockets of just, momentary lapses that have really cost us. So I’m not taking away anything from the teams that have come before, but I think what I’m taking away from, is me as a coach. I think just going through this whole experience of being super methodical about everything, trying to figure out what makes the kids tick and how we can be the best version of ourselves for them, instead of being like, ‘how can we get the kids to be the best versions of themselves for us.’ So, it’s been a really reflective season for me. … Alexis Mata said, ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop.’ Those of us who’ve lived through that Fullerton game last year where we just needed a point to get out, that’s really tough because everything sets itself up. Sarah Lau’s the best penalty kick taker and she misses the penalty kick (to tie the game). Things just happen. It was very emotional and very overwhelming. But Rachael makes a really good point. She balances that stuff out by saying, ‘I don’t like to dwell in the past. Because the past has no bearing on what happens tomorrow.’ Then I come back at her with, ‘well, our game at Cal Poly last year could’ve been 5- or 6-0, so I bet they’re going to have a little bit of fire coming out of their butt (Thursday).’ Because you always want to get that second chance to come full circle. So the team is on the same page as the coaches. Alexis Mata and all of her accolades, last year and this year, Lex is like, ‘I’m more focused now, because we’re doing well, than I was when we were 0-4, 3-2-1, or whatever. She can reflect back on the past and say hey, ‘it’s easier for me now to stay on my toes because we know what can happen in the Big West.’ So it’s not that we haven’t enjoyed it. We have celebrated the team and we have congratulated them. We’re very proud of them. But this morning we had a talk in our lounge. I made everybody stand in front of me, and I said, ‘look, the word of the day that I wrote down in my journal today was, perspective.’ I turned to Lex and go, ‘hey Lex, what’s stress?’ And Lex goes, ‘when you can’t feed your family.’ Because I always tell them, ‘don’t stress about soccer. Stress is when you’ve got five kids and you lose your job and you can’t feed them. That’s stress. Soccer’s supposed to be the fun thing.’ But these guys take a lot of pride in what they do. These women are just amazing at how they can balance everything and function when they’re tired, and keep their grades up, all that stuff. … Yes, we’re so proud of you that we’re 3-0-1, but let’s gently remind ourselves that we have not finished our job yet. We have not achieved our goals yet. The good thing is, your dream is still alive. You’ve got four more games to really make this happen. So, we won’t let anybody talk to us about Santa Barbara, because we are 100% focused on Cal Poly.

WW: What do you know about Cal Poly?
MN: Well, Cal Poly is definitely on an upswing. We’ve watched a lot of film on them. They move the ball really nicely. I’ve been really impressed with their style of play, their composure. They’ve got some young players who are making tremendous impacts for them. Two freshmen, a sophomore. They’re getting on the board. They’re scoring, they’re assisting. Just watching them play, they’re not as direct of a team as they were in the past. They’re not just that run-and-gun kind of team. These guys are technical, they have great off-the-ball movement, they can switch the point of attack. We’re going to have to be ready to go. They are going to be a handful. You can tell they’re kind of peaking at the right time and they’ve got some momentum going in.

WW: What about you guys? What can you say about the connection in the final third that just wasn’t there before?
MN: Well, I think the goal scoring has been quite, because it’s been a long time coming, I think the inspiration that happened, when Kayla Ryan came through in that CSUN game and really made a statement, almost for the little guy. Kayla Ryan was not a big household name in soccer in Hawaii. I mean, she’s just like everybody else. She works very hard and she tries her best to do her job. And we’ve got lots of kids who are like that. So a player like Kayla who is a younger player, who comes to practice every day and tries her best, but she doesn’t have the, like everybody knew who Raisa (Strom-Okimoto) was. Everybody knows who Alexis Mata is. But to have somebody who was just a good teammate and a good, solid player, come out and really take control of a situation, I think she really created this ‘aha!’ moment in a lot of our team. And they looked at her and said, ‘wow, this is something that I aspire to do as well.’ That way, we knew after losing 70-something-% of our scoring from last year — we’re missing Raisa, Sarah and Lei (Medeiros) — so a lot of our goal production is gone. Who’s up next? Next woman up. That was the thing that we waited to see. We had an idea that we had multiple people who could score goals. But now the shots are starting to fall and we’ve become much more efficient in our buildup, and the shot selection, and all of that. … I was laughing when we played against Irvine, and I looked up at halftime and the shot count was like 8-1 (for Irvine). (laughs) And we had one, and it was 1-0 (Hawaii). (Laughs) It’s nice to be on the board and getting shots. Even against Fullerton, we had a lot of shots on frame. But they had more, but not (threatening). It didn’t feel like Alexis Mata was under the gun a lot.

WW: Am I wrong to think that Ammendolia (one goal, team-high three assists) in the middle has made a huge difference this year?
MN: I think Rachael Doyle kind of summed it up nicely. Rachael’s the one who discovered Eliza because they’re both Australian, and she knew of her through friends in Australia. So I had never seen Eliza play, and Rachael had shown me and Marc the video and we’re like, ‘this kid can play!’ (laughs) So, you know, she was a tiny little thing. Of course, adjusting to the U.S. game, the physicality and the demands of the game in the U.S., that was the biggest obstacle for her to overcome. To get her bearings, for her to withstand that kind of pounding week in and week out. But I thought Rachael summed it up pretty nicely. ‘The Big West hasn’t seen a player like Eliza in a long time.’ You usually get these forwards who are going to dominate with their size and their speed. You look at an Atlanta Primus (for Fullerton). You look at some of the players who have come before. The Big West is a very physical, very athletic conference. And here’s this skinny, scrawny kid from Australia who’s bending balls into pockets of space and using the outside of her foot. Her technical ability is just tremendous. So, yeah, the Big West hasn’t seen a midfielder quite like her, especially so young. So she has really kind of rejuvenated the midfield. With Morgan (Meza), Izzy (Deutsch) and Emily Cottrell, we have a nice little rotation in there. Mik Johnson-Griggs. Kiri Dale. So we’ve been able to put in, and just rotate people as needed, and it’s been solid.

WW: It really seemed like there’s an unconventional way about her that’s interesting.
MN: Yeah, and I enjoy coaching her so much, because she’s just always thinking. She’s a student of the game. She’s got a great soccer brain and she gets it. Now it’s a matter of her being able to make those connections with people around her, so she can start to learn what kind of balls they like to play, and also the targets understand her ability to play a variety of balls. That did take a little bit of getting used to, but it seems like every week that’s getting better. So I’m hoping that continues (Thursday) night.

WW: What kind of feedback have you gotten?
MN: I ran into some alums last week at our Fullerton game. Male Fresquez, Alexis Colacchio, Elise Wassner, and each girl in their own conversation with me, was just like, ‘Coach, this is amazing, they’re such a good team. The style of play is exciting, it’s beautiful, you guys are building out of the back.’ So our alums, they’re very, very proud of the kids. Storm Kenui messages me after almost every game. You know, Raisa is texting kids at home about, ‘hey, you did such a good job.’ These kids are still connected. It’s nice to see that we can make these guys proud, because we really, really do want to honor the ones who came before, because they were the ones who laid that foundation and sacrificed and really got the program going again.

WW: They all had a part of those past setbacks and frustrations.
MN: Yep, and I think being in the Big West Conference, instead of in the WAC, has been a huge transition for us, because we were a really good WAC program. Our first year, they picked us to finish last and we finished third. In our very first year as coaches, we got the team back to the WAC tournament and finished third. But the Big West is such a different beast when it comes to the quality of soccer and the athleticism of your competition. So when we had to make that transition in, the team that had initially been recruited was recruited for the WAC, and that was Pinsoom (former coach Tenzing). And as the kids matriculated through the system, you have to kind of learn who matches Hawaii and who matches the Big West. That admittedly took us so long to figure out. And I feel horrible for that, but that was the one thing I had addressed with (then-athletic director) Jim Donovan early on. I didn’t have any D-I experience, I didn’t know who matched Hawaii and I didn’t know who was going to be successful in the Big West until we actually started playing. … But I think as coaches, the last two years, we have been very, very coachable. We’re learned a lot from our team, we’ve listened to their feedback, we’ve implemented it into different phases of our program, and we are much better for it.