 "Photo: Miko Walczuk")
Mari Punzal, a junior midfielder on the University of Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine soccer team, tore her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) the summer prior to her sophomore year in high school.
After undergoing surgery and months of rehabilitation, she was cleared to play and took the field for the Kamehameha Warriors her junior year.
Then it happened again, this time to the right ACL.
“I was pretty down for a while, but it’s okay; everything worked out,” Punzal said.
She is absolutely right.
Punzal has blossomed into one of the ’Bows’ most reliable performers, despite the setbacks she experienced in high school.
“It makes me feel like everything happens for a reason,” Punzal said. “When I was in eighth grade, that’s all I wanted to do – play soccer at UH.”
She has started every game since her freshman year and was named to the 2008 All-Western Athletic Conference first team as a sophomore last season.
This year, Punzal was solid in the midfield and tallied two goals on 32 shots, with 14 on goal.
THE EARLY YEARS
Punzal grew up in Kapa‘a, Kaua‘i, and first played soccer when she was six years old. Her two older brothers played before her, so she wanted to follow in their footsteps.
“I was always one to follow them,” Punzal said. “I wanted to do what they wanted to do.”
Punzal played in a boy’s league her first two years because her mother did not know that there was a girl’s league available on Kaua’i.
“Maybe it made me tougher; I always was kind of a tomboy back then,” Punzal said.
After finding a girl’s league, Punzal kept with it and stayed motivated through the friendships she made on the field.
“A majority of my friends played, so we all grew up together (and) we kept playing with one another,” Punzal said.
KAMEHAMEHA WARRIORS
At Kamehameha, Punzal played volleyball as a freshman and sophomore, basketball as a freshman, and track as a junior, to go along with four years of soccer.
“I don’t even like to watch movies because you just sit there. I’d rather do something active,” Punzal said. “I like to go hiking and do random things.”
After leading the Kamehameha Warriors to the state championships in 2006 and a state title in 2007, Punzal felt overlooked by college recruiters due to her injuries that sidelined her majority of her junior year.
“Idaho offered me, but I felt like there probably wasn’t much to do over there,” Punzal said. “Then at the last minute, UH asked me to come and play, so I signed on.”
THROUGH THICK AND THIN
Punzal has enjoyed her experience at UH, especially those shared with her teammates.
“(My favorite part of playing at UH is) definitely spending time with my teammates – they’re my best friends on and off the field,” Punzal said. “They seriously have my back. You learn to play for each other rather than be selfish and play for yourself.”
Punzal said that she is her No. 1 critic.
“Sometimes I have to tell myself, ‘Just play, Mari, just play,’ ” she said.
The ’Bows (7-11-1, 3-5 WAC) were picked to finish second in the WAC preseason poll but did not qualify for the WAC Tournament, which ended their season last week.
Punzal and her teammates tried to remain positive.
“Our season (was) really rocky,” Punzal said. “It’s pretty discouraging when you just look at the wins and losses, but we just (couldn’t) produce goals.
“The results (didn’t) reflect on how good of a team we are,” she continued. “Soccer is one of those unpredictable games.”
FUTURE GOALS
Punzal still has one year of eligibility left, and the 20-year-old already has post-graduation goals.
“I want to travel, to different continents maybe, just to get an overall perspective of how different cultures are,” Punzal said.
Although she hopes to stay active in soccer through coaching, Punzal does not feel like she is ready for professional competition.
“I’ve always aimed for it,” Punzal said. “It’s not that I’m giving up or anything; it just takes a lot of work, and I just feel like I come up a little short for it.”
Punzal, who’s majoring in family resources, is currently taking prerequisites to apply for the dental hygiene and nursing school.
Family resources is a different focus from dental hygiene and nursing, but Punzal said she doesn’t want to “put all her eggs in a basket.”
“(I want to) have a good job, have a car, have a home (and) just be steady,” Punzal said on her future. “I always have what I like to do to fall back on, like counseling and teaching,”
GIVING BACK
As an upperclassman, Punzal believes it is important to impart your knowledge to the younger generation.
“You have to be confident because you’re coming up as a freshman, but (you have to) be humble at the same time,” Punzal said. “I always tell the freshman to try and make an impact from the start.”
Punzal has also developed a good sense of what UH women’s soccer is about throughout her career.
“(It’s) a playful yet serious way to make soccer popular in Hawai‘i,” Punzal said. “We want to be like the way everyone talks about football and volleyball, so we’re trying to work towards that.”
While on road trips, Punzal picked up sewing and crocheting, hobbies she has fallen in love with despite her active nature.
“I think it’s my subconscious telling me to get ready for another hobby after soccer,” Punzal joked.
But that’s later.
Punzal’s entire soccer career – from playing with the boys as a little girl, to overcoming her torn ACLs in high school, to starting every game as a ’Bow – has shown that she knows how to persevere.
“If I want something bad enough,” Punzal said, “I’ll do what it takes to get it.”
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