It’s not a frown or a scowl, but the expression on the face of Waiakea’s Starcia DePonte changes with the mention of the past two BIIF Division I soccer championship matches.
DePonte, a senior, looks away and rolls her eyes a quarter way thinking about one-goal losses, each of which kept the Warriors from their first title. During her junior season, she hit the post with a shot that could’ve won the final against Konawaena in overtime.
“Just from that experience, I think I learned that I can come back strong,” DePonte.
Of course, that’s something she’s already proven – and not just in the game of soccer, but also in the game of life.
When she was 3, DePonte was stricken with leukemia, though she doesn’t remember much from a battle with cancer that didn’t last more than six months.
“I remember being always in the hospital,” she said. “I remember getting poked a lot.”
“It’s something I do look back on sometimes,” she added in a figurative sense. “If I can do that, get past that, I can get past this.”
DePonte is no worse for wear these days, but the ordeal as a youngster did leave an indelible mark.
“Ever since I was sick, I’ve wanted to be a nurse,” she said.
By the time she was 4, DePonte had kicked cancer, and she was healthy enough to take up soccer.
From AYSO to club play at age 12 to four years at Waiakea, DePonte is ready to use the game to advance her pursuit of becoming a nurse. She recently signed a national letter of intent that will cover approximately two-thirds of her costs to attend Columbia Basin College, a two-year school in Pasco, Wash.
Naturally, her major will be prenursing, and though she’s looking forward to the experience, she hopes it’s not the last time she hits the reset button.
“I’m hoping that I can get a bigger scholarship at a better school, maybe,” she said.
DePonte is one of four Waiakea seniors who can say they left the Warriors’ girls soccer program in better condition than they found it. In 2012, with their home field under construction, Waiakea practiced at the school’s baseball field and played its home matches at St. Joseph.
“It was terrible,” DePonte said.
Jason Nakayama came on board a year later as coach, and during her junior season DePonte found a home at striker and led Waiakea with 13 goals as the Warriors reached the HHSAA tournament for the first time since 2010. As a senior, DePonte played more of a facilitating role at forward.
Nakayama described DePonte as feisty.
“She plays with a lot of heart, and that will carry her far in whatever she sets her mind to,” Nakayama said. “She really deserves this opportunity.”
It came about when Columbia Basin coaches noticed DePonte at a camp in March on Oahu. DePonte was considering another junior college in California but ultimately decided the Pacific Northwest felt more like home.
“Everyone has been telling me that Washington is a lot like Hilo, especially the rain,” she said.
The Hawks finished 6-6-3 last season, and they had only two forwards listed on their roster, only one of whom is eligible to return.
DePonte doesn’t pretend that she’s sorry to leave Waiakea, but there is one thing she’ll miss.
“I’m going to miss playing in the stadium, it’s coming along with bleachers and everything,” she said. “That stadium is the only thing I’m going to miss.”
This time, DePonte was smiling, because, after all, her work is almost done here.
