Lee is a Hawks original

ALLISON LEE never missed a game in her four years with the Holy Names University (Oakland, Calif.) women's soccer team.

The Lady Hawks fielded their first team in school history four years ago. Lee played in all 61 games, making her the career leader. She also is the only member of the inaugural team to play all four seasons.

The Kaiser graduate finished her career with 13 goals and six assists despite playing the last two seasons as a center defender in HNU's flat, four-back system.

"It is kind of a fluke I ended up here. I was looking at some schools in Ohio that were offering money. Holy Names was one of the last places I looked at," Lee said.

"I found out they were starting up a soccer team and I was interested in that. I didn't know what I wanted to study, but I sent my soccer profile in and they said, 'Sure, we'll give you what you need (financially).' "

"The first two years were a lot of fun, even though we didn't have the numbers to be real competitive. We were building a program and I could play pretty much where I wanted to," said Lee, a captain her junior and senior seasons.

"We had our best season this year (7-8-1), just missing the playoffs."

Lee graduates in May with a degree in liberal studies and a minor in art. She really hopes to return to the islands but that has been put on hold for a couple of years.

"I'm going to be the graduate assistant coach this fall and probably the year after while I study for a master's and get my teaching credential," said Lee, an All-California Pacific Conference first-team selection this past fall.

She already has done some coaching, helping her coach, Orlando Cervantes, with his club team.

» Two Honolulu Bulls Soccer Club members have decided on the college they will play soccer at this fall.

Sophie Merrifield, a defender from Punahou and a Star-Bulletin All-State first-team selection in 2005, chose Yale after also considering its Ivy League rival Dartmouth.

"Dartmouth (Hanover, N.H.) was too isolated. I want to be close to New York and Boston," Merrifield said.

"Yale (New Haven, Conn.) has strong academics and that's important to me. The soccer program is strong and I want to be on a competitive team."

Merrifield plans to major in physics and international relations and wants to teach at the university level.

Jeremy Wittig, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's offensive player of the year and a Star-Bulletin All-State first-team pick for Pac-Five in 2005, has signed with Creighton.

A student at Lutheran, Wittig did not play this season due to the ILH ban on players participating in outside events during the high school season.

Instead, he was a guest player with IMG Academy in the Tampa Bay Sun Bowl in December, where he met CU coach Bob Warming.

"The school is well known. It does not have a big student body and that was important to me," said Wittig, who has an academic scholarship and grants to cover his education.

Just for Kicks runs every other Thursday in the Star-Bulletin. Al Chase can be reached at achase@starbulletin.com.