Best friends. Teammates. Roommates. Captains. Champions.

But by what description do they consider themselves above all?

"Friends," said both senior defender Tehane Higa and forward Taryn Fukuroku, all-conference players for the University of Hawai'i women's soccer team.

"We're not only close on the field, but off the field, we're really good friends, too," Higa said. "We like to do a lot of the same things. She's just super down to earth and really laid back."

Fukuroku said: "She's like my best friend. I rely on her for things. When I need to talk to someone I go to her. We pretty much know everything about each other."

Rainbow Wahine coach Pinsoom Tenzing called them "gifts."

"They are both excellent students, and wonderful kids to be around. They are jovial, very thoughtful kids," Tenzing said. "They are almost, almost similar, and that's why they are such good friends. Tehane is a little low key, Taryn a little more of an extrovert, but in essence, they are the same."

He is hoping their communication will extend to the rest of the team, which started the season 0-2 against two quality teams that Tenzing believes will be the best the Rainbow Wahine will face all season, along with UC Santa Barbara.

Tomorrow they leave for their first road trip, playing Drake Sunday and New Mexico Tuesday in the New Mexico Classic in Albuquerque. Then they fly to Stockton, Calif., for the Pacific Fall Tournament against Pacific Sept. 12 and San Francisco Sept. 14.

"I need them to be, as the season progresses, more vocal," Tenzing said of the two captains.

"They need to be the coaches on the team," said Tenzing, who said he doesn't want to have to coach from the sideline. "They are too nice to be barking instructions at anybody, so that is sort of a problem."

Higa and Fukuroku bonded over being in the same situation of playing and traveling as freshmen.

"It's kind of cool. We both pretty much started on the bench and worked our way up," Fukuroku said. "Everything I've done is almost the same that she's done. All of our accomplishments have been the same throughout all our four years."

They have lived together since their sophomore years, now residing off campus in a Kaimuki apartment.

With the amount of time the two spend together — the only time they are apart is for classes, where Fukuroku is a kinesiology major and Higa is majoring in family resources — they have no shortage of stories to share about each other.

"She always talks in her sleep," Higa said of Fukuroku. "One time she was challenging (forward Ambree Ako) to something and saying she could beat Ambree.

"And another time, she did our cheer. She said, 'OK, 'Bows on three!' While she was sleeping."

In response, Fukuroku said: "She says dumb things. Once we were at (goalkeeper Kori Lu's) house, about to make dinner and she was about to make rice, and she looked at the rice cooker and asked, 'Wait, if you put white rice in and you press the button for brown rice, does it make the rice brown?'

"And you know the GEICO commercial with the cavemen? She asked, 'Wait, are they using real Cavemen?' "

As a captain, Fukuroku said Higa "leads by example. She's always working hard and a lot of our players look up to her in that aspect."

Higa said Fukuroku "has high expectations for the team and know what we're capable of doing and where we're capable going."

Fukuroku is a two-time Western Athletic Conference first-team pick and Higa was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2007. They helped the Rainbow Wahine to the conference regular-season and tournament titles and the program's first NCAA Tournament berth last year.

"They are wonderful individuals," Tenzing said. "They've developed into really good soccer players. They will have contributed mightily to the program when they are done."