Konawaena senior Taiana Tolleson started playing soccer when she was 4, and by age 6 the decision was over, done and finished – she was a goalkeeper. ADVERTISING Konawaena senior Taiana Tolleson started playing soccer when she was 4, and
Konawaena senior Taiana Tolleson started playing soccer when she was 4, and by age 6 the decision was over, done and finished – she was a goalkeeper.
Waiakea senior Tori Teanio took up the game as a 5-year-old, and it wasn’t until she was in high school that she became a full-time fixture on defense.
Along the away, each of their coaches say their careers were marked by unselfish play. That means Tolleson and Teanio have no problem sharing, and it perhaps also explains why each was “shocked” to learn they had been voted co-BIIF Division I Player of Year by league coaches.
“It’s been such an incredible ride,” said Tolleson, who has an athletic scholarship awaiting her at Vanderbilt. “High school will be missed, but I’m looking forward to playing at the next level.
“Hopefully, I’ll take everything I’ve learned from the wins and the losses and my teammates.”
Usually, the BIIF coaches reward offense, but this year they gave a nod to defense.
Konawaena coach Guy Miranda said the last goalkeeper to earn the top honor was the Wildcats’ Marissa Minor in 2007. He called a sweeper winning the award “rare.”
Tolleson and Teanio both felt the synergy in sharing the accomplishment as soccer sisters working in goal prevention.
“I definitely loved when we played each other,” Tolleson said. “We’ve known each other for a while. It’s always been fun because she is hard-working and humble.”
On that note, Teanio figured the award would go to a goal-scorer, perhaps one of her teammates, Ki Serrao or Starcia Deponte, saying, “I always felt that someone else deserved it.”
Which is not to say she’s yearning for a position change.
“I like how you’re more aware back (on defense),” Teanio said. “Very pressuring. More pressuring than forward.
“I hate the feeling of getting scored on. Not for myself, but for my team.”
While Tolleson was literally the last line of defense for the Wildcats the past four seasons, Teanio was that in a figurative sense the past two years for the Warriors.
However, both took different paths to the top.
The scenic route
Teanio has a unique vantage point, having played soccer at three different high schools in four years. As a freshman, she was a Hilo Viking under Paul Bello, and she spent her sophomore season as a midfielder at Keaau with coach Richard Handy before finishing her career at Waiakea and coach Jason Nakayama.
“It was very challenging to start over every year,” she said. “This is the first year I didn’t have to start over.”
After losing to Konawaena in the 2015 BIIF championship match – Tolleson stonewalled Waiakea in a shootout – the Warriors had to start over as a team, returning just four starters.
Nakayama’s rebuilding efforts were made easier because Teanio had one half of the field covered.
“Tori has always been the glue to holding the defense together and will be truly missed,” Nakayama said. “She has a great knowledge for the game. I wish I could take credit for (it), but she has worked hard and had great coaches.”
One such coach was Jobette Nabarro, a former prolific goal scorer at Waiakea.
Teanio, the only member of Waiakea to make first-team all-BIIF, credits Nabarro for getting her out of her comfort zone, helping Teanio unleash her full potential.
“She put a lot of faith in me when I didn’t,” Teanio said. “She got me more motivated and serious in the game.”
The Warriors took down the Wildcats in the 2016 BIIF semifinals, but they narrowly missed capturing the school’s first girls soccer title in a 2-1 loss to Hilo in the final.
“What I’ll remember about Tori is her support for her teammates, and that’s a hard quality to come by,” Nakayama said.
Teanio is still mulling her college soccer options, and UH-Hilo is her top priority, which would give her a chance to reunite with her sister, Tiani, as well an another former teammate, Sabrina Scott, the 2015 BIIF Player of the Year. Teanio wants to become an athletic trainer.
“I’m really proud of my team despite the fact we couldn’t make history,” she said. “I wish them good luck in the future.”
Top ‘Cat
If he didn’t already, Miranda knew he had something special at goalkeeper during the 2013 HHSAA tournament.
Playing against Moanalua in a consolation game, Miranda said the attacking Na Menehune tested Tolleson with shot after shot. Tolleson, then a freshman, came up with save after save to ensure a 2-1 victory.
“Whatever failures we had in the field, we were secure in goal,” Miranda said. “Just every aspect of her game is strong. Even her punts. She gets it out there.
“It can be hard during practice when you’re off by the side training by yourself or with a coach. It’s a very unselfish job.”
An imposing figure in goal, Tolleson was the backbone of three BIIF championship teams, standing tall and shrugging off the pressure during a nail-biting postseason run which saw Konawaena survive three consecutive matches in penalty kicks and another in overtime.
“I’ve learned to love it,” Tolleson said. “I would never second-guess my decision to play goalkeeper.”
Any why would she?
Tolleson is believed to be the first BIIF goalkeeper to sign a Division I college scholarship.
She did have to deal with a bit of adversity, however.
On the very day she signed with Vanderbilt, Tolleson was ejected during the early stages of the Wildcats’ BIIF semifinal loss against Waiakea after colliding with a player and drawing a red card.
At first distraught, Tolleson uses the incident as one of the learning experiences she’ll take with her to Vanderbilt.
“I tried not to get mad,” she said, “because I knew my teammates we’re going to push harder.
“Not everything is going to go your way. You have to learn to lose sometimes and move on. Even if you put a lot into it, that’s just part of life.”
“It was an amazing four years,” she said.
