UH women’s soccer to honor Lahaina fire victims on Maui trip

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The University of Hawaii women’s soccer team has been on a tear this fall camp as they prepare for their season opener.

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Part of that preparation is a trip to Maui for an exhibition game against Seattle University, but the weekend is about more than the action on the pitch.

The team handmade more than 100 ti leaf lei to present at the Lahaina fire victims memorial.

“The intention that you put into the things you have is what you’re gonna receive out of it, and we are just super big and our coaches are super big about like how you do one thing is how you do everything,” UH senior midfielder Leila Kahoano said. “So really being intentional about like why we’re making these lei.”

Finding chemistry in cultural practice

The project allowed the team to bond outside of soccer and learn more about the place they play for.

“It’s one of our cultural practices. A lot of people don’t understand the history behind it and when it goes into — not just simply like the orchid ones you get from the hotels and everything like that — but it’s truly a craftsmanship,” Kahoano said. “There’s so many beautiful types of lei, but for them to kind of get immersed in this.”

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Anniversary puts season in perspective

The trip has extra meaning for Kahoano as they’ll be in Lahaina on the three-year anniversary of the fires.

“Many family friends that went through a lot of struggle and that kind of just put it into perspective that our struggles sometimes we overlook them, and it’s like people lost their homes, people lost everything, people lost family and that’s just something you can never replace,” Kahoano said. “For us to show that we you know we support them and that we love them even though they might not know us is a really big part of who Hawaii is.”

This experience serves as a solemn reminder of why they play the game and who they play it for.

“We get to have like a little part in that and kind of represent ourselves in a way that not a lot of schools get to do, and that’s just one of the best things that comes from being a school in Hawaii,” Kahoano said.

UH officially opens the season on Aug. 13 and will make its K5 broadcast debut on Aug. 16. Coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. Hawaii time.

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