Just before the start of this season, University of Hawai'i women's soccer assistant coach Gina Brewer sent the players on a team-bonding scavenger hunt.

The teams were split into four groups with designated captains: Ambree Ako, Mari Punzal, Kristyn Shapka and Rachel Domingo.

Then they were sent all around Waikiki doing tasks like taking pictures of three different pets, take a picture with a guy in a Speedo, sing the ABCs in front of an ABC Store, jump into a beach volleyball game.

"My team won," proclaimed junior captain Punzal, whose team accomplished one more task than everyone else. It required going into a high-end designer store and taking a picture in a dress.

"Everyone else asked before if they could take a picture. We just walked in and did it."

But that fun is over and the most important games of the season are about to start.

Hawai'i begins its Western Athletic Conference schedule against San Jose State and Fresno State this weekend. All three teams are peaking heading into WAC play.

"We're coming off a three-win streak too, so it should be interesting because both teams are doing well just before the WAC, when it's supposed to come together," Ako said.

Like the search for the items in the scavenger hunt, each aspect of the "ideal" style of play for the Rainbow Wahine has slowly been found this season.

"It was defense, and then the midfield, and now it's the offense," said Ako, of the stages the Rainbow Wahine went through, working their way from the back to the front.

"One good thing is I think other than the Stanford game and maybe a little bit of the Pepperdine game, our goalkeepers haven't been tested, which means the defense is well organized," Hawai'i coach Pinsoom Tenzing said. "I think all of that comes from defensive organization in the middle of the field."

He is happy with the offensive chances the Rainbow Wahine are able to create, but Hawai'i has taken 151 shots this season and scored just 13 goals.

"My concern is we're creating a lot of opportunities and not putting it away," Tenzing said.

The Rainbow Wahine head into WAC competition on a three-game win streak and senior forward Britta Bourne is the reigning WAC Offensive Player of the Week. Bourne leads the team with six goals. Ako has three.

"The confidence is much higher now that we're winning and connecting much better," Punzal said.

San Jose State is also on a hot streak. The Spartans (5-4-0) come to Hawai'i on a five-game win streak that includes four straight shutouts. The Rainbow Wahine have an all-time record of 8-5-1 against the Spartans, winning the last two.

"San Jose State, despite having somewhat soft years, this year they are coming into the WAC games with a renewed sense of purpose," Tenzing said. "And they've got a rather purposeful coach who has turned the discipline around."

Fresno State (2-7-0) had a rough nonconference after dropping its first five games without scoring. It won two of its last three, and the Bulldogs are always tough against the Rainbow Wahine. They lead the all-time series 7-6-2, and the teams tied, 0-0, in their last meeting. Goalkeeper Kaitlyn Revel is the Preseason WAC Defensive Player of the Year.

"They have a new coach and it's a feeling-out process," Tenzing said.

Ako said that despite that, the Bulldogs are still considered rivals.

"They are our biggest rivals because every time we play them the game is going to be physical, so we just have to be ready for that," she said.