New Year, New Talent Steps Up For Confident Falcons
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usWith its breakthrough season last year, the Kalani girls soccer team can be sure of one thing this time: the opposition’s best effort every time.
That’s OK with head coach Michelle Richardson-De Almeida, who won’t settle for anything less than her own team’s best effort each night.
“I always have a lot of faith in our girls and expect great things from them,” said the third-year coach, who came to Kalani from a highly successful run at Campolindo High School in Orinda, Calif.
“Normally, they meet my expectations. I also know that there were things last year’s team knows they could have done better.”
Kalani’s 15 wins last season (against three losses and a tie) represent the most ever for the school in a single season. The team also finished second to Mililani in the OIA Division I post-season tourney, which is the highest they’ve gone in the league. Finally, there was their riveting run at the state soccer championships in February, where it posted back-to-back 3-0 shutouts versus Castle and fourth-seeded Hilo to advance to the quarterfinals. Although Kalani was defeated in the semifinals, it rebounded to beat Baldwin in the third-place game to close out a historic season.
For her part, Richardson-De Almeida was even more pleased to point out that six seniors from that team are currently enrolled in four-year colleges with Andrea Aguirre at Hawaii Pacific and Amanda Kobayashi at Creighton playing soccer. Haley Chee (Cal-State Northridge) and Tani Costa (Penn State), who played at Kalani in 2008-09, also play college soccer.
The Falcons will soon add current players Arden Matro and Tambrie Awai to the list of graduates in college soccer. Matro has verbally committed to Seattle Pacific next year, while Awai has done the same for Cal-State San Bernardino.
But they will anchor the Kalani team for now. “Arden is an exceptional player and exceptional all the way around,” the coach said of Matro, a center-mid-fielder. “She’s one of those girls who has strength of character from within. She brings consistency, strength and leadership. She has good vision and a good skill base. She’ll be an asset to our team this year.
“Tambrie brings good vision and is tenacious and very focused on being successful,” she added of Awai, who also is a center-mid. “She’s a leader by example. Both Arden and Tambrie have great family support. It shows in how they’re able to play on the field.”
The Falcons also welcome back veteran goalkeeper Kathy Chun, who is starting for her third season. Goalkeeping’s “a thankless job,” Richardson-De Almeida said. “They get all the credit and all of the blame. She’s a very seasoned keeper, who has been through the rigors of a state tournament now. She’ll be able to lead from the back with more confidence from her experience.”
Fresh faces will be the bulk of Kalani’s starting lineup. “The team will look very different, and our play will look different,” she said. “We’ll be thin roster-(size)wise and we’ve already had some injuries in club season that will affect us. Last year, our strengths were very different.”
The team was highly productive offensively last year, totaling eight goals in four state tournament games alone. This time around, she believes the production figures will be “more widespread.”
“There’s more potential for scoring from more players this season. We’ve been working hard on our striking ability.”
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