KAPAA — Kapaa High School graduate April Barnes won’t be going too far from home, but she will still take her game to the collegiate ranks.
Barnes will attend Chaminade University of Honolulu, an NCAA Division II school, in the fall and join the school’s women’s soccer team.
“I’m really excited to play up there,” Barnes said Wednesday. “I went up to practice with them once (in October). They’re all so welcoming. They’re just a great bunch of girls. I’m stoked to be playing with them.”
Barnes, 18, played forward and was a four-year varsity player at Kapaa High. She received partial scholarships from Chaminade and signed her letter of intent earlier this year.
“We look for all-around student-athletes. Great players, great students. She pretty much fits all those criteria really well,” said Michelle Richardson, Chaminade women’s soccer head coach, on Friday. “We were looking for a striker, a strong goal scorer, who had a good work ethic. And she was someone we ended up noticing.”
It’s been a rough ride for Barnes to get to a college scholarship. During her time at Kapaa High, she suffered two separate ACL injuries, the worse of the two happened during her junior year.
“My junior year, I was still recovering from injury. I really didn’t have time to show myself in front of different schools and coaches,” she said. “But, I’d go to the I.D. camp on Oahu and try to show my skills to the coaches that showed up. I really didn’t have other options because I was recovering. I was really lucky to get the chance to try out at Chaminade that one day. They thought I was a good fit, and I was recruited on the team.”
Barnes added: “It was definitely a big relief to be knowing I’m going to play college soccer. It’s what I’ve been wanting to do since the beginning of my soccer career. My happy because my parents have gone through so much. Before, I would travel to the Mainland and everywhere else. They had put in so much time, effort and money to try to get me recruited and show my skills. It was just a lot of work. For me to get past these injuries, I’m just so glad. We’re all happy I finally got there.”
Barnes was named Kauai Interscholastic Federation girls soccer Player of the Year this past season.
She was among the state’s leading scorers in Division II with 26 goals, according to ScoringLive. Barnes only trailed Kapaa teammate Brianna Binder, who tallied 28 goals.
The Kapaa girls team was 10-1-1 in the regular season and won the school’s fourth straight KIF girls soccer championship.
At the 2018 The Queen’s Medical Center Girls Soccer Championships–Division II state tournament, Kapaa was 2-1 and defeated island rival Kauai High School to place third. Barnes was among those named to the Division II All-Tournament team.
“Since she was the second-highest goal scorer in D2 in the state last year, our expectations of her are that she comes in and she shows us the same type of want to score, and also creativity and drive,” Richardson said. “Coming into college soccer is the next step. I never expect any kid to walk on that field and make a giant impact. However, I don’t think that’s out of reach either. If she comes in prepared, I expect great things from her.”
Barnes said the defining moment of her high school career was during her junior year when Kapaa’s girls advanced to the Division II state championship match, though Kapaa lost in that title match to Big Island’s Hawaii Preparatory Academy.
“I’d just like to thank everyone who supported me though my entire soccer career,” Barnes said. “I’m just happy that I’ll be continuing my soccer career. I’m just stoked, and I’ve had a lot of support through these years. I’m blessed.”
Kapaa High School’s varsity girls soccer head coach Mytra McKeague couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.
