Athlete’s corner: Tolleson makes Big Island history

It all started for Taiana Tolleson as a 6 year old.

The Captain Cook native was playing in her third season of American Youth Soccer Association (AYSO) ball, and her team was down big during one match. Showing a competitive side that she didn’t know she had at the time, Tolleson demanded her coach Mary Replogle to be put in the goal.

“I hadn’t played goalkeeper yet at that point, but I remember yelling, ‘put me in, I don’t want to lose again!’” she recalled fondly.

After the match ended, Replogle gave Tolleson a pair of goalkeeping gloves for hers to keep, officially giving her the reins as the group’s primary goalie. She claims that it was a moment of true realization — that she wanted to be a soccer player for life.

“I was really honored that she saw something in me,” Tolleson said. “And from there, the rest is history…”

The six-year-old Tolleson would have never imagined that she’d eventually become a professional goalkeeper. Recently, the soccer star signed a contract with Lexington SC, which is part of the newly-formed United Soccer League (USL) Super League — the highest level of the United States women’s league system alongside the National Women’s Soccer League.

Essentially, the league is a premier field for women above the semi-professional USL W League. The league has eight teams with plans to add nine more in the near future. The inaugural season began late last month, with Lexington having its first match against Carolina Ascent FC on Aug. 25.

Making history, Tolleson became the first-ever women’s soccer player from the Big Island to sign a professional contract in the United States.

“There have been a lot of athletes I grew up with that had the same dream,” Tolleson said. “I’m grateful to be the one that has been able to make it, but hopefully it’s just the beginning for the next generation of our island’s athletes.”

Tolleson is grateful for making it to the top, but she admits the path wasn’t easy. Growing up in West Hawai‘i, she was already put at a disadvantage in terms of available athletic resources. At the time of her youth, the Big Island had no club teams to help develop her game further.

“If you don’t have the right resources and people in your corner, it can affect your development in a pretty severe way,” Tolleson explained. “I would go home and kick soccer balls against the wall.

“It’s just not comparable to O‘ahu or the mainland.”

It was until the late 2000s — when Tolleson was 10 years old — when the club team Kona Heat (now Kona Crush) was finally formed. She played for the team until she was a freshman at Konawaena High School in 2012, where she joined the Wildcats’ girls team full-time — as West Hawai‘i had no club teams at the high-school level during this period.

Nonetheless, Tolleson turned heads right away. During her freshman season as the starting goalkeeper on varsity, Tolleson helped lead the Wildcats to a Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF) title and a state tournament appearance.

A year later in the 2014 state playoffs, Kona fell to Iolani, but Tolleson’s play caught the attention of Shawn Kuroda — the head coach of Hawai‘i Surf Soccer, a reputable O‘ahu club team. Kuroda’s daughter happened to be playing for Iolani at the time, and he thought Tolleson would be an excellent fit as goalkeeper on his club squad.

“That moment when he came up to my mom and I after the game became such a vital part in who I am today,” Tolleson explained. “Because if I didn’t play for Surf, I don’t think I would’ve had the opportunities that were given to me later on.”

Surf plays in a multitude of mainland tournaments, giving players national exposure to the college recruiting scene. With the club, Tolleson played in several California and Nevada tournaments. Simultaneously, she also played for Kona — juggling classwork and playing for two soccer programs.

But it wasn’t until the 2015 Las Vegas Players College Showcase with Surf where everything changed for Tolleson.

A junior at the time, Tolleson was being looked at by a few Division II NCAA programs, but had no Division I offers on the table. That all changed during a tournament match in Vegas, where she caught Vanderbilt head coach Darren Ambrose’s eye. He approached Tolleson soon after, first telling her how he liked how she warmed up prior to the match.

“I appreciated that he told me that, because I feel like I tried to do everything I could at a high level,” she said of the encounter. “Whether that was for the preparation for the game, the warmup for the game or the game itself. And I still do that to this day.”

Ambrose and Tolleson stayed in touch, and soon enough, she committed to the Commodores less than a year later — officially becoming the first Hawaiian soccer student-athlete in the university’s history.

“If you told me at the age of 15 that I would end up at one of the top academic schools in the nation and was playing in the SEC, I definitely would not have believed you,” Tolleson said. “A lot of local kids don’t go farther than California, Oregon, Washington or Utah. So when I was actually recruited, the first question I asked my club coach was, ‘what is Vanderbilt?’ We’re not taught about those higher-level schools.”

Despite the unknowns of playing soccer and taking college courses nearly 4,500 miles away, Tolleson saw it as an opportunity that she couldn’t pass up. She graduated from Konawaena in 2016 — helping the Wildcats clinch three BIIF titles in her four seasons. Just a few short months later, Tolleson arrived in Nashville, Tenn., to begin her new life.

Getting adjusted to mainland soccer was difficult for Tolleson at first, as she did not see the field during her freshman season. She considered transferring for more playing time, but ultimately decided to stick it out and win the trust of the coaching staff.

“I think the patience that I learned at Vanderbilt is something that I took as such a life lesson,” Tolleson said. “From being the best goalkeeper on Big Island to not seeing the field was humbling, but I decided to keep my head down and work.”

Tolleson’s resilience and decision to stay with the Commodores paid off, as she saw more playing time during her sophomore season in 2017 — starting in six matches and posting a 3-2-1 record with a .677 win percentage.

A year later during the 2018 season, Tolleson saw the field even more. As a junior, she saw action in 10 matches — going 3-1 and allowing 1.09 goals against average, helping Vanderbilt claim the SEC Championship. As a senior in 2019, she helped the Commodores win the SEC East, playing in all 21 matches and recording 10 shutouts. Tolleson also secured 35 saves, allowing 0.64 goals against average in her final year of collegiate soccer.

“If I didn’t stay at Vanderbilt, I wouldn’t have been an SEC champ my junior and senior year,” she said. “I also learned that your role isn’t always a part of that starting group. Being the positive teammate, being the one that lifts others up, being the one that still supports them — knowing we all have a common vision is what’s most important.”

After graduating in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, Tolleson decided to step away from the game for a short period to work towards her goals in her professional career. Soon after earning her Master’s Degree in Marketing at Vandy, she joined the Fortune-500 company Grainger Industrial Supply.

But something deep inside of Tolleson still yearned for soccer. After some time of reflection and discussion with those closest to her, she decided that she wanted to work to become a professional player on the mainland.

Tolleson wrote in a journal entry in Dec. 2022 that she wanted to be on a professional roster by 2024. After spending some time networking back home, she got in touch with Logan Fisher — head coach of Tennessee Soccer Club in the USL W League. Adamant for a chance, Fisher granted Tolleson a roster spot, and soon enough, Tolleson was on a plane back to the Midwest as the team’s starting goalkeeper.

“‘I ultimately had a strong calling back to soccer, and I knew if I didn’t listen to it, I was going to spend the rest of my life regretting it,” she said.

“I think it is really cool because I was able to step away from the sport for a bit. And I think as a person, it’s really important to remind each and every one of my teammates that we’re so much more than athletes — our identity isn’t just in sport. We are valued for more than just what we can do on the pitch.”

Tolleson performed at a high level in the USL W League, helping her new squad clinch back-to-back South Central Division Championships in 2023 and 2024. But it was in mid-2023 when the star first heard about the USL Super League, and organizers were encouraging semi-professional players to try out. Confident in her abilities, Tolleson attended a two-day tryout that December for Lexington, giving it “everything she had.”

A few days after Christmas, Tolleson was back in West Hawai‘i with family when she ironically received a phone call in the same spot of her family’s kitchen where she committed to Vanderbilt in 2015. Lexington had called to inform her that she made the roster — making her dream journal entry from a year earlier come to life.

“Talk about a full-circle moment,” Tolleson said. “I remember just crying and looking at my siblings, now eight years older, and my mom and my stepdad and us just soaking in that moment. It was really special.”

Fast forward to today, Tolleson is two months removed from moving to Lexington and joining the team — and she is loving every second of her professional life.

“Honestly, it’s been incredible,” she said. “They definitely brought in a special group of girls who know how to play high-competition soccer and who treat this every day like a professional environment — as it should be treated.”

Tolleson is one of three goalkeepers on the roster, claiming that the healthy competition in practice between her, Bridgette Skiba and Sarah Cox has made them all better players.

“The training has been extremely professional and high-level,” Tolleson said. “I’m so grateful I work with two other goalkeepers — it’s one of the best goalkeeper unions that I’ve ever been a part of. We’ve all been a part of many different goalkeeper unions from youth level to the semi-pros, but we still laugh, pick each other up and coach each other. There’s zero animosity. Those two girls really do keep me going; they are incredible.”

In terms of leaving a legacy for her new club, Tolleson plans to be a reliable teammate on and off the field while maintaining the same professionalism every day — aiming to help set the standard for the league’s future.

“I believe that I bring that leader and nurturer mentality, where I’m always trying to set an example by doing and not just saying,” Tolleson said. “I want to be the hardest worker on the field. I want to be the hardest worker in the weight room. I want to be the one that’s sweeping the sheds, making sure that we are leaving everything better than when we found it.

“When I retire and officially hang up the cleats, hopefully we’re all able to leave a legacy as the first Lexington team. We’re the first ones that are able to make a culture, and we’re definitely creating something special here.”

While Tolleson plans to continue playing professionally for as long as she can, her heart still resides in West Hawai‘i. After retirement, she plans to return to the Kona proper to raise a family. Tolleson also wants to help spread awareness of the lack of recreational facilities in her hometown, as she hopes to be one of the first of many Big Island athletes who made it big in their sport. She also plans to host a Kona keiki soccer camp in the coming months.

“I hope to be someone that can pour into the next generation,” Tolleson said. “There’s a lot of talent back home, and I think it has truly yet to be uncanned.

“I hope to be the one that has her hands in producing new fields, new courts and places where kids can go. It’s important for kids to have a role model. I want to be a role model. I want to be nothing but a role model. I have had so many friends and family members that unfortunately turned to the streets and made poor decisions because there isn’t enough to do for kids. I think if we can continue to provide resources and give back, then that stigma and those statistics will slowly start to change and our kids can really chase their dreams.”

For any Big Island youth athlete that is dreaming for an opportunity like Tolleson’s, she encourages them to stay relentless, remember your direction more so than your speed and never forget where you come from.

“It’s never been easy leaving home and needing to sacrifice being far from my family, but the sacrifices have been worth it to show my younger siblings, cousins and other Native Hawaiian and local kids that they can accomplish anything they dream of,” Tolleson said. “My Ohana has pushed and motivated me every step of the way to never give up, no matter how homesick I get. They are my why, and I’m so grateful for their support. I have such a deeper appreciation for them and home by having the courage to take chances and see how far I could go to make a dream come true.”

Tolleson and Lexington FC will continue their inaugural season on Sunday against Tampa Bay Sun FC in their home opener.