Hawai`i Hilo women's soccer coach Gene Okamura has announced the signing of ten players to National Letters of Intent for the coming 2018 season.
The group includes three transfers and seven true freshmen. Okamura's roster now has 16 returnees, three players that red-shirted last year and the ten newcomers.
Santa Rosa Junior College will send two players to Hawai`i—goalkeeper Bailey Cahill and midfielder Janelle Schwartz. Both started for a Bear Cub team that went 13-5-5 and reached the final of the California junior college regional tournament, one match shy of the CCCAA State Final Four. Cahill (Analy HS) had a 0.71 goals against average. Schwartz started in 18 of Santa Rosa's 22 matches.
Forward Blayne Shoffit rounds out the transfer group. The 5-7 junior-to-be started in 19 matches in 2016 at Santa Barbara CC for a Vaqueros team that went 16-7-1, reaching the CCCAA State Championship semi-finals. The Woodland, Calif. native scored a pair of goals and had an assist on the season.
Jodi Lillie leads a group of talented freshmen. The Mililani High School (Honolulu) standout was a First-Team All-State selection as a defender. She was also named the Defensive Player of the Year by All-Hawaii Girls Soccer. She was part of a Trojan team that won three straight OIA Division I titles, and was named to the Division I HHSAA state all-tournament team. Additionally, she was a 2018 First-Team All-OIA Western Division defender.
Brende Yoshizumi (Kamehameha-Kapalama) and Piper Collado (Pearl City) are another pair of highly decorated players from Oahu. Yoshizumi was a second-team all-state pick as a midfielder and a First-Team All-ILH selection. Collado was named to the OIA Second-Team as a defender. Yoshizumi, Collado and Lillie played together for Hawaii Rush and won five straight Hawaii State Cup Championships.
Kayla Kunihisa was also a part of those Hawaii Rush teams, when not starring for Maryknoll High School. Kyanna Torres-Kaiwi (Lahainaluna HS/Maui) rounds out island signees, while California freshmen will include Alexis Berlin (San Ramon/California HS) and Taylor Hornburg (Exeter).
The Vulcans will report for physicals on Aug. 12, practice on August 13, and will open the 2018 season on Oahu with neutral site matches on Sept. 7 and 9th—playing Eckerd (Fla.) and UC San Diego at Waipahu. Last season, the Vulcans finished 7-9-1 on the year.
