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Just For Kicks Al Chase |
DeHay helps dig
LSU out of messJenny deHay played an important role in the Louisiana State women's soccer program's return to respectability. The Kamehameha grad started 34 of 75 matches for LSU during four seasons with the Tigers.
"I didn't recruit Jenny. She was part of the freshman class that was here when I took over the program, a program that was at rock bottom coming off 0-18 and 4-15 seasons," said LSU coach George Fotopoulos. "It was players like Jenny that made the difference in resurrecting this program. The contributions of her class were just phenomenal, to get to the SEC Tournament twice and have a national ranking last year."
DeHay split time at the outside right midfield position the last two years, coming off the bench in most matches, after being primarily a starter her first two seasons.
"I had the honor and pleasure of coaching Jenny," said Fotopoulos. "She did try to teach me some Japanese, which was a bust, but she did get me hooked on sushi, which is a lot different than Greek food."
DeHay scored five goals in her career, with a game-winner her freshman year and another her senior year. The mass communications major also had six assists. DeHay made the Southeastern Conference academic honor roll as a junior.
The Tigers compiled a 44-28-7 record during deHay's time in Baton Rouge.
Erin Sayegusa put together a solid, productive career during her four seasons at Fresno State. She started 61 of 75 matches for the Bulldogs. In her career, the striker from Kaiser took 133 shots and had 10 assists, good for third on FSU's all-time lists.
The liberal studies major is fourth all-time with 16 goals, seven of them game-winners, and her 42 points is fifth best in Bulldog history.
"I cannot say enough about her contributions to our program," said FSU coach Stacy Welp. "Erin was a captain this past season and has been a great leader on and off the field. She has done extremely well in school with over a 3.0 GPA. Erin was active in community service here with Little Heroes and Adopt-A-Player.
"On the field Erin started for four years and will be hard to replace. She has a great technical ability and she sees the game very well. She has scored some very important goals for us in the clutch. We will miss terribly all of those qualities.
"I couldn't have asked for a better person, student, and athlete to represent our program and our university."
Sayegusa is a three-time FSU and two-time Western Athletic Conference scholar-athlete.
Congratulations
Kim Unten, a Pearl City graduate, helped New Mexico Highlands (Las Vegas, N.M.) to a school-record eight wins in 2003. The freshman striker was the second-leading scorer for the Cowgirls (8-9-1) with six goals, three of them game-winners, and a team-leading eight assists in 18 matches. She was selected for the all-league second team and was seventh in the NCAA Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in shots per match (3.39) and points (20).Chela Gray is an All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference honorable mention pick. Gray, an Iolani graduate and a striker for NCAA Division II Western Washington, scored two goals and had one assist for the 6-13-1 Vikings.
See the Columnists section for some past articles. Just for Kicks runs every other Sunday in the Star-Bulletin.
Al Chase can be reached at achase@starbulletin.com