Thursday, September 16, 1999

Sanchez Wahine’s stopper

SOCCER NOTEBOOK
Just For Kicks

By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

Demarre Sanchez remembers telling her youth coach to get her out of the goal. Two months later she was asking the same coach to put her back in the goal.

"I told him I was sick of playing in the goal. I didn't like the fact that I couldn't run around. I felt trapped and had so much energy," said Sanchez, the starting goalkeeper for the Hawaii Wahine.

Her father Dennis recalls his daughter being a pretty good 10-year-old striker, but every time she scored, it seemed her club was quickly scored upon.

"She told her coach, 'I think I can help the team better as a goalkeeper'," Dennis said.

Her club coach agreed and Sanchez has been between the posts ever since, although her first formal training didn't occur until she was 13.

"My club team actually had a goalkeeper trainer. She started teaching me the details. It helped me improve and from that point it became more fun," Sanchez said.

Sanchez made the varsity her sophomore year and helped Eldorado High School (Alburquerque, N.M.) into the state tournament for three seasons. Eldorado reached the championship game her senior year, but lost to a team it had defeated twice during the season.

When it came to college, Sanchez sent letters and resumes to 20 schools in the western half of the country. She took a recruiting trip to New Mexico, then Hawaii.

"I wasn't surprised she picked Hawaii," Dennis said. "When she came back from the recruiting visit, I could tell."

"I really liked the feeling I got the minute I got off the plane. A lot of things contributed, but I really liked the coaches," Sanchez said. "They didn't play games with me. The New Mexico coaches had said I would disappoint my father if I went away. Pinsoom (Tenzing) and Kathy (Carey) just said to let them know what I wanted to do when I was ready. I called back in a week and committed."

Sanchez was voted UH's outstanding goalkeeper as a freshman and sophomore and currently has a string of 172 shutout minutes going.

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WAHINE PLAYBOOK

vs. Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

Coaches: Oral Roberts, Kyle Cussen, 2nd season (14-10-0, .583). Hawaii, Pinsoom Tenzing, 6th season (32-54-6, .380).

Season: Oral Roberts (3-3-0), Hawaii, (2-2-1)

Series record: This is the first meeting between the schools.

Top players: ORU, Ashley Aldrich (No. 8), senior midfielder who led ORU in goals, assists and points in 1998. Defenders Carrie Harrison (3) and Jodi Kirkhuff (14), both with two goals this year and Erin Dulaney (2) who had three a year ago. Forward Megan Utz (21) who broke into the scoring column last week ... UH, anyone who can score a goal. The Wahine offense has produced just one goal in the last 390 minutes.

Interesting facts: The Golden Eagles were 11-7 in Cussen's first season a year ago, but began this year losing three of their first four matches before defeating Centenary, 1-0, last Friday and Drury, 3-0, this past Sunday in the ORU Invitational ... Demarre Sanchez, Carmel Hurley, Camille Kalama, Tiffany Makue, Wendy Miyashiro, Veronica Flores and Jennifer Starsiak were named to the No Ka Oi all-tournament team. Sanchez, who posted 182 shutout minutes, was MVP. Megan Lytle's nine shots against USF set a UH single-game record ... Oral Roberts will play Hawaii Pacific Sunday at 2 p.m. at Atherton Field on HPU's Windward Campus. The Golden Eagles have received five yellow and two red cards in six matches ... The Wahine will play at Oral Roberts next year on the same trip they play WAC opponent Tulsa, if Tulsa is still in the conference.

Match keys: For the first time this season, the Wahine had open space to work with in the USF match, but didn't take advantage often. "The kids got confused and we didn't have the maturity to use it," Tenzing said. The short passing game Hawaii prefers opens up space, but all too often the Wahine resorted to the long ball and most of the time the ball came right back at them. Defense is the most solid part of the UH game. The Wahine need to build from there. A lot will depend on mutual anticipation of what teammates are expecting, both with and without the ball.

Kickoff: Tomorrow, 4 p.m., UH Soccer Field.

On the air: None.

Tickets: Free admission. $3 parking charge.

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Al Chase, Star-Bulletin

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http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii