Mahie Atay knew she wanted to play soccer at the NCAA Division I level after graduating from Baldwin, but college recruiters weren't exactly beating a path to her front door. Hawaii goalkeeper
achieves personal goalBy Al Chase
achase@starbulletin.com"I was thinking mainland, probably California," Hawaii's starting goalkeeper said.
Following the high school state tournament last spring, Bill Steffen of Oregon and Hawaii coach Pinsoom Tenzing began recruiting Atay, who had been named the Star-Bulletin State Player of the Year.
Atay wavered back and forth. She had never been to Oregon. Former Baldwin teammate and Star-Bulletin 2001 Player of the Year Nicole Garbin kept calling trying to convince Atay to come to Oregon.
"Nicole said to come to Oregon and she would take care of me. Coach Steffen kept calling and finally he said he wanted to know what my decision was," Atay said. "I finally decided to stay home. It came down to who had the better offer."
She joined the Wahine for fall practice after working for a month and a half with Deion Ruidas, sharpening her goalkeeping skills. Hawaii had three returning goalkeepers. Atay was familiar with former Moanalua goalkeeper Erin Chow, but really had no idea what her competition was like at the Manoa campus.
"I thought four goalies is a lot of goalies," Atay said.
That number was reduced by one when Nichole Yoshimura transferred to Sacramento State just before fall practice started.
"All I could do was work on my skills and work hard," said Atay, who along with Chow, a sophomore, and senior Jennifer Churchill split time defending the nets in the exhibition match against Douglas College. Based on playing time in nonconference matches, the starting job competition was between Atay and Churchill.
"All of us, we're working our butts off and I thought we were all doing good. It was a matter of who the coaches wanted," said Atay, who won the starting job when UH opened Western Athletic Conference play.
"It was a good feeling. I had accomplished something I wanted to do, play Division I in the goal," she said.
She began playing the position as an under-10 player and stayed with it through her years in AYSO and HYSA.
"I chose the position because no one else wanted to play there and, at first, I didn't have to do a lot of running," she said. "I think people see goalkeeper as an easy position, but it's not. It's hard, but I enjoy it."
When she allows a goal, Atay looks back to see what she could have done differently to prevent the score. She also is realistic and gives credit to a shooter who gets off a nice shot and puts the ball in a nice place.
"I still get mad and get kind of down if it was too easy (for the shooter) and a shot I should have stopped. I have to remember there are 11 players defending and it can be a team breakdown," she said.
In 13 matches, her goals-allowed average is 1.55, third among WAC goalkeepers. Her conference average of 1.85 is fourth best.
The worst nightmare for a goalkeeper is letting a shot go right through the legs for a score.
"I had one of those when I was younger and the thought of that happening again makes me stay focused," Atay said. "You have to play every shot like it was a hard shot."
Notes: UH freshman striker Natasha Kai is averaging 1.91 points per match, 28th in the Division I statistics this week. ... The Wahine broke their record for shots taken in a season. They have 284 so far and are on pace to set team records for goals, assists and points.
When: Today, 7 p.m. Hawaii vs. Boise State
Where: Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park Stadium
TV/radio: None.
Admission/parking: Free.
Series record: Tied, 1-1-1.
Last meeting: The Rainbow Wahine prevailed 7-1 in a first-round Western Athletic Conference tournament match, Nov. 7, 2001.
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