Barbosa an All-American in soccer
Compiled by Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Taking a break from soccer intensity four years ago, and finding the right fit, was a formula that worked for Trisha Barbosa of Ainakoa.
Friday, she was named first-team defender on the NCAA Division III All-America team selected by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Barbosa was an all-state defender on Punahou School's 1998 state championship team, but eschewed major-college soccer to attend 2,150-student Williams College in Massachusetts and didn't even turn out for the varsity her freshman year.
"I had been playing since I was 5; I needed a break," Barbosa said Monday. She played in an informal junior varsity program her first year and said, "It made me really want to play again."
Division III, Barbosa said, "was better for me, time-commitment wise. My brother J.P. is a sophomore at Dartmouth and it takes so much more time, year-around."
Barbosa won a scholar-athlete award (3.2 GPA) and will graduate in May with a double major in sociology and psychology. She sees law school in her future.
She helped Williams to a 13-0 regular season and into the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where it lost in double overtime.
Barbosa, who played right back, said she was "very shocked" at being named All-American. "I'm a simple player, pretty unassuming, but I had the opportunity to play with a lot of good girls who made me look better on the field."
Her coach was another Punahou graduate, Lisa Melendy ('78), who was promoted to senior women's administrator last month and resigned as soccer coach with a 17-year record of 195-55-21, a .758 winning percentage. Her teams had double-digit wins the past 13 years and she was named league or regional coach of the year five times. Williams reached the NCAA final four in 1999.
FOOTBALL
Northern Arizona
Three players from Hawai 'i won All-Big Sky Conference defensive honors for the Lumberjacks.
Redshirt junior free safety Keala Loo (St. Louis '98) of Kane'ohe and junior inside linebacker Kaaina Keawe (Waiakea '99) of Mountain View were chosen on the second team.
Senior Inoke Taufa of La'ie, who moved to Carlsbad, Calif., for his last year of high school, earned honorable mention all-conference at defensive tackle.
Loo, all-state as a cornerback in high school, needed a year to make the transition to free safety but has started the past 17 games and was named most improved defensive player last season.
"He is real aggressive, which hurt him some at corner but is ideal in a free safety," said Northern Arizona defensive coordinator Corey Batoon, a 1986 St. Louis graduate who recruits his home state for the Lumberjacks.
Loo admitted he had to work on being more patient. "I was trying to make every play out there. I just had to realize I can't do that," he said.
Playing free safety also required a sort of personality change. "I used to be quiet. At free safety you are the general out there. You have no choice but to be vocal," he said.
Loo intercepted four passes (tied for second in the Big Sky) and broke up six. He was third on the team in tackles with 66.
"I've known him since he was a little kid in Kane'ohe and I played at St. Louis," Batoon said. "He's a great ambassador for the nine or 10 Polynesian kids on the team."
Keawe has started all three years, but really "figured it out" this season, Batoon said. "He was dominant at times during the stretch run for the playoffs."
Keawe was second on the team in tackles with 78, including five for losses.
Northern Arizona (8-3) lost 34-31 to Sam Houston State in the first round of the NCAA I-AA playoffs.
"These guys kind of got overlooked in recruiting," Batoon said. Batoon signed Keawe after he appeared set at Arizona, then Utah. "It's tougher now with June Jones at Hawai'I," Batoon said. "We're recruiting mainly JC kids because Ron Lee does such a good job with Hawai'i high school players."
Prior to Northern Arizona, Taufa was an all-conference player on a national junior college championship team at Palomar (Calif.) and an academic all-star as well.
Willie Maumau (St. Louis '99) redshirted this season while he transitioned from defensive to offensive line. He has two years left. Maumau has won a school scholar-athlete award.
Batoon has been at Northern Arizona five years, the last four as defensive coordinator, after playing at Long Beach State and coaching stints that included Saint Mary's and Montana.
Northwestern (Illinois)
Senior Mike Souza (Punahou '97) of Kane'ohe, a 6-foot-6, 297-pound offensive lineman, received honorable mention All-Big Ten honors. Souza started 38 games for the Wildcats, including every game the past three seasons.
