Jeff Miller was a goalie for Brigham Young-Hawai'i from 1997-99, an assistant coach the following year, and then it all came to an abrupt end.

BYUH and Hawai'i Pacific dropped men's soccer after the 2000 season when 10 schools pulled out of the Pacific West Conference and formed the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Miller is now head coach of the Seasiders and he said "it's important to restore a rivalry between BYU-Hawai'i and HPU."

Also hoping to get in on the action are Chaminade and Hawai'i-Hilo, two programs in their first year of men's soccer.

All four local NCAA Division II teams will play in the Hawai'i College Challenge Cup tomorrow and Saturday at Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

BYU-Hawai'i will play Chaminade at 5 p.m. tomorrow, with Hawai'i-Hilo and HPU to follow at 7. On Saturday, the losers will play at 5 p.m., with the winners at 7.

"People have a chance to watch soccer and see all four teams playing," Chaminade coach Bob Barry said. "Young guys can say with a little more experience I can play on that team."

HPU coach Frank Doyle said: "We hope for a nice crowd to show we can play decent soccer. When starting a program you'd like to get as much publicity as possible. The tournament is a way to showcase the Hawai'i teams."

In mid-March, Grand Canyon (Ariz.) and Notre Dame de Namur (Calif.) joined the PacWest, and men's soccer was among three sports added to meet NCAA membership requirements.

Each conference needs at least six member institutions who sponsor a minimum of 10 sports, with two team sports for each gender.

In accordance with PacWest rules, the schools are allowed to award a maximum of 18 half-tuition scholarships.

Hawai'i-Hilo has 13 local players listed on its 24-player roster; HPU has six among 16; BYU-Hawai'i has four among 23; and Chaminade has seven among 14.

CHAMINADE

Barry likely has the toughest challenge because he said he was allowed to award only three half-tuition scholarships this season.

The three other local schools will be awarding the maximum of 18 half-tuition scholarships.

"I have to sell Chaminade athletics, Chaminade soccer and academics," Barry said. "I think we have a good school with good academics."

The Silverswords lost to Embry-Riddle (Ariz.), 2-0, in their season opener Saturday, but Barry was encouraged.

"We went out there and played like an inexperienced team," he said. "We had an opportunity to win the game. We made glaring mistakes that allowed two goals to score. But we left the game with something to build on."

Barry said his top players are goalie Darren Smith, midfielders Kirtus Adams and William Bow, and defender Chad Nishikuni.

HAWAI'I PACIFIC

Doyle is eager to get Sea Warriors' soccer going again.

"We're all excited about the fact some of us are returning, and with Chaminade and Hilo coming in. The HPU and BYU-Hawai'i programs were supported by their administrations (before they folded)."

He and the other coaches feel the real challenge will be keeping the local talent here.

"A lot of the boys coming out of our high school programs will be going to the Mainland for college," Doyle said. "Hopefully, we can keep some of those boys here. It's a challenge to get the best of the best among local high school graduates."

HPU lost its season opener to Embry-Riddle, 1-0, on Friday.

Doyle said his top players are goalies Christian Nilsson and Matt Terry, midfielder James Terry and forward Clemente Christian.

BYU-HAWAI'I

Miller was a two-time captain for the Seasiders, but he'll be in a different leadership role this time around.

"I feel it's an honor to be able to coach here," he said. "I'm glad we were able to add soccer — men's and women's. It's the most popular sport in the world so we should have soccer."

The Seasiders have seven foreign players and seven from Utah.

Miller said his top players are goalie Javier Vaca, midfielder Brian Noguera and 6-foot-4 forward Aaron Nonnenmacher.

"We have a strong central midfield and big strikers," Miller said. "We have a fairly young defense, but they've been working really well together."

On Monday, the Seasiders lost their season opener to Embry-Riddle, 3-2.

HAWAI'I-HILO

Vulcans coach Paul Regrutto didn't want to name any top players and said his squad "will be team-based, not individual-based."

He added: "We'll play an attacking, creative style of soccer people will enjoy watching and we'll defend well and have movement off the ball."

Regrutto has been happy with his team's progress.

"We've had three weeks now since we started training, and we've made dramatic improvement from Day 1," he said. "We've worked really hard. Hilo will be proud of what we put forth."

The Vulcans have eight players from the Big Island.

The Hawai'i College Challenge Cup will be their first action of the season.

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.