Three years ago, Kyla Okamoto and Leila Leano were the only two freshmen on a Pac-Five squad that made a magnificent run to the Division II state championship in girls soccer.

Okamoto and Leano, both Hanalani student-athletes, then transferred to Mililani. As sophomores, they were part of the Lady Trojans’ OIA championship team in the 2022-23 season. A few months later, Okamoto suffered an ACL tear during club soccer. The warning sign had been there.

“My knee was a little sore, so I took two weeks off. My first game back, it was fine. It was the second game that day, I was fatigued. It was a tackle and I heard a pop. When the injury happened, I remember I was crying for a little bit. It was sore. Then I thought, I can’t be out for a year,” Okamoto said.

A moment later, she grew hopeful.

“I didn’t really believe I tore it because I was able to walk off the field,” Okamoto said. “When I found out I did tear it, it was hard to believe. I had to do PT (physical therapy) to get my range of motion better and build the muscles.”

The long road back didn’t stop or slow her. After eight months of rehabilitation, in the spring of 2024, she was back on the pitch, going after everything without hesitation.

On Saturday, the senior center back and her teammates became the new OIA Division I girls soccer champions. The Trojans capped a 13-0 run through OIA play with a 3-0 victory over Waipahu on Saturday at Kaiser Stadium.

The extremes of elite-level soccer will never be forgotten by Okamoto. The low points tested her until there seemed to be no light, but she kept recovering even with minimal gains at first. She leaned heavily on a scripture in her Bible.

“It’s Romans 8:18, ‘For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed to us.’ This has been my motto. I didn’t understand why I had to go through that injury, especially at the beginning of my (college) recruiting,” Okamoto said. “I keep telling myself God has a plan and I have to keep working hard. Everything is going to work out for a reason.”

Mililani coach Brendyn Agbayani kept a close eye on the co-captain.

“The one amazing thing is she couldn’t play last year because of her ACL, but she has grown so much and she’s a great leader. She leads by example,” he said. “She’s fearless. You cannot teach that, you know? As a coach, I can tell her to build up the mentality, but she always had that from three years ago. The injury elevated her game even more. You can tell she missed the game. She’s going all out. A lot of the seniors want to get as far as they can go.”

This season’s Mililani squad is powerful offensively, but at its core, the Lady Trojans are about defensive domination. They did not allow a goal in 11 league matches. Okamoto, who switched from outside back to center back during high school, is a cornerstone of that defense.

“She’s a student of the game. When she was injured, she observed. You’ve got to know where to go with the ball. The center back, especially, has to be steady,” Agbayani said. “Her work ethic is what makes her who she is. She’s a great player.”

There are no statistical standouts on a team with balance, grit and unselfishness.

Six Trojans have scored at least five goals, including Okamoto. Leano has a team-high 11 goals, with Maya George (nine) and Jaslene Cayetano (seven) providing scoring punch and elite ballhandling. The glue of the unit is the middle woman.

“Kyla is hard to beat one on one. She’s strong and smart on the ball. You have to be a great player to beat Kyla because she rarely makes mistakes,” Agbayani said.

The clutch component is pure, forged tougher than steel through club play, then as Trojan teammates.

“On my Mililani team, I have five of us that I played with since age 6, and a total of eight or nine I’ve played with from age 10,” Okamoto said. “A lot of them are my (Rush) club teammates, as well.”

The five who go back more than a decade haven’t changed a lot.

“Leila, I feel like she’s always been good. She was the most gifted of us, the superstar of the team,” Okamoto said.

“Gabby (Ferrante), she’s always been funny since we were younger. Shyla (Kaai-Montgomery) has been the same over the years. The funniest teammate, Camryn (Kunihisa), we used to hang out a lot outside of soccer. We’d always do performances for her parents like a dance,” Okamoto recalled.

So much history. Even former club opponents are united for the brown and gold.

“I played with a lot of them or against each other. I think that’s why our team has a lot of chemistry. We’ve known each other so long, we know how each other plays on the field,” she said. “Our back line, me and Camryn understand what our strengths are. We work together well. Rylee (Unebasami) in the goal has been our keeper for so long. We trust her and she trusts us.”

Pac-Five did just fine after Okamoto and Leano departed, winning two more state titles in Division II for a three-peat.

At the state level, Mililani was the D-I runner-up in 2010 and last won the crown in 2015 under the late Ray Akiona.

The Trojans will have a first-round bye before beginning play Jan. 30 in the Motiv8 Foundation/HHSAA Girls Soccer State Championships.

Under Agbayani, a longtime coach with Leahi Soccer Club, the team’s daily routine includes “circle talk.” a simple opportunity to sit and connect with teammates. It’s a wide array of conversations, laughter and introspection for a team that Agbayani considers delightful.

“The one thing about this team, they’re goofy. All of them. This is the first time in 15 years that a team makes me laugh a lot,” he said. “I’m a serious coach, but they broke me down.”

Okamoto has embraced circle talk from the start.

“I think we have a lot of different personalities, so we can’t be that serious throughout the whole season. Coach ‘B’ definitely has a soft heart. He cares. He puts a lot of time and effort into our practices, checking on every single one of us,” she said.

Agbayani’s children have graduated from high school. He learned to keep his eyes wide open. Dad mode doesn’t always shut down.

“Mental health with the girls is the biggest thing. I’m very keen on that. More of a motivator, too, and I’m still old school from a very competitive family,” he said.

His brother, Benny, is the baseball coach at Saint Louis and won a state title as the softball coach at ‘Iolani when his two daughters were Raiders. The competitive spirit is matched by the simple, everyday act of sitting and listening.

“We do a lot of circle talks. I try to be completely transparent. They can talk to their teammates, all of them realizing they’re going through the same thing. The pressure from parents, of trying to be at the next level,” Agbayani said. “Everybody runs their own race, so you can’t compare yourself to anyone else.”

While Benny Agbayani flourished in a professional baseball career that spanned from the New York Mets to Japan, Brendyn Agbayani became a soldier.

“It’s about just trusting and believing in each other. I had to drive the message from the beginning. I learned from the military that if one fails, we all fail. If they fail, I fail, too,” he said.

Okamoto has a 4.1 grade-point average and will play at Cal Poly Humboldt next season. She has a love for traveling and helping people.

“I’m going to study biology. This is not a set plan because the medical field is difficult, but hopefully I’ll become a travel nurse,” she said.

In the Okamoto household, anything less than phenomenal grades is not tolerated.

“They don’t have a choice. Average grades, we wouldn’t let that happen,” Cindy Okamoto said of Kyla and older brother, Landon.

Fear of academic mediocrity is a real thing, but fearlessness on the pitch? Cindy and Mike Okamoto aren’t exactly sure where Kyla gets it. She had that verve from the beginning when she was a 5-year-old.

“When she was 4 or 5, we took her to ballet and she hated it. At AYSO, she complained about how hot it was, crying, but she would stop every ball near the goal. I remember coach Kyle (Taoka), the godfather of AYSO in Mililani, and coach Ray (Akiona) working with her and the little babies in their first year.”

Among those rookie futbolers: Leano, Ferrante, Kaai-Montgomery, future Hanalani hoops star Ellana Klemp, and future Kamehameha state wrestling champion Joy Jeremiah.

“I first met Kyla when we played AYSO together,” Leano recalled. “I mostly remember us just being excited for the snacks and potlucks we would get after some of our practices and games. She’s a good friend because of her ability to give good advice, her thoughtfulness and how she pushes me to be a better friend, person and soccer player.

At Hanalani, Okamoto dabbled in cross country and track and field. One of her closest friends there was Kiemi Paresa.

“When I first met Kyla seven years ago, it felt like we had been friends much longer. I remember how easy and comfortable I felt talking to her,” Paresa said. “Kyla’s a good friend because she’s loyal, thoughtful and fun to be around. With her, our conversations are never boring. Being with Kyla is always a joy, and I’m grateful to have her in my life.”

Okamoto chuckles when she says her father is on the quiet side, while her mother is outgoing. They make a strong, resilient team.

“My parents are always sacrificing, always putting me first. All of this wouldn’t be possible without them,” she said. “They take me to all my practices and games, and pay for everything.”

Mike Okamoto is cherishing every moment of Kyla’s senior year.

“As a sophomore when she played with the seniors, she was intimidated by them. Kyla wanted to make sure that if she became a captain that she didn’t make the underclassmen feel the way she did,” he said. “She did spirit week for the team. She would also try to encourage those that were nervous to play. Also, when a teammate scolded another teammate, she told them to knock it off immediately, then talked to them after to explain the situation, and asked them to apologize. It’s the behind-the-scenes thing, to keep the team culture and cohesion together that she does that makes me proud of her. When she goes away for school, I’m going to miss hearing her say ‘Good night’ to me.”

Kyla Okamoto

Mililani soccer • Senior

Top 3 movies/shows

1. “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”

2. “27 Dresses”

3. “Hunger Games”

Top 3 foods/drinks

1. Matcha latte

2. Sushi (Goraku, Kapolei)

3. Pasta

“I make matcha lattes at least one a day. Some of my matcha is from Japan. My mom has a friend whose daughter’s friend brings it back. Spaghetti is what they always feed us on trips.”

Favorite book: “Carrie Soto is Back” by Taylor Jenkins Reid (fiction)

“This book is very relatable. A younger tennis player was about to beat her record, so she came back from retirement. It talks about a lot of the struggles she went through, not being able to do what she used to. It motivated me. The character in the book had a strong mindset.”

Top 3 homemade food

1. Oyako donburi

2. Baked chicken

3. Spicy ahi poke

“My dad (Mike) makes all of it.”

Top 3 music artists/favorite song

1. SZA – “30 for 30”

2. Daniel Caesar – “Loose”

3. Brent Faiyaz – “No One Knows”

Favorite athlete/team: My team

Funniest teammate: Shyla Kaai-Montgomery

“Anyone on the team would say she’s the funniest teammate. I’ve grown up with her my whole life. She doesn’t take stuff too serious in a good way. In any situation, she can make it laughable.”

Smartest teammate: Camryn Kunihisa

“She’s in a lot of AP classes. She’s in the math above us.”

GPA: 4.1

“I’m taking more AP classes.”

Favorite teacher: Mrs. (Lauren) Ching

“She was my math teacher last year. She taught really well and I was able to engage in the class a lot.”

Favorite class: English (senior year)

“I have my friends in it.”

Hidden talent: “I can pop my shoulder. Both sides.”

New life skill: Driving

“It definitely makes getting around easier.”

Bucket list: Travel

“We’ve been to Japan three times. I want to go to more countries in Europe. New York City was pretty fun. It’s a walkable city and there’s always something happening there. You can live your own life there and be very independent.”

Time machine: when and where would you travel?

“I would still be a kid on Christmas morning. I feel like now that I’m in my senior year, I’d like to go back when I was a kid, when I had more time.”

Youth sports: Soccer, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, tennis, ballet for a day.

If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self?

“Enjoy everything in the moment as time passes very quickly. Remember to continue to work hard while having fun.”

Shoutouts

“My parents, friends, coaches and teammates.”