Kai found success her way

She has compared tattoos with David Beckham, exchanged the shaka with Kobe Bryant and has her own fan club.

And she's done it her own way the entire time.

Kahuku's Natasha Kai made a name for herself on the national soccer scene in a way that goes beyond the nearly 30 tattoos and multiple piercings and speaks more to her physical talents.

More at the Honolulu Advertiser

Kai helps spark U.S. to Algarve Cup win

LAGOS, Portugal — Tina DiMartino scored her first international goal yesterday to help the defending champion United States beat Denmark, 2-0, in the Algarve Cup.

DiMartino, a 22-year-old forward making only her second international appearance, knocked in the ball from short range in the 35th minute after Natasha Kai's header rebounded off the post.

Kai is a Kahuku High and University of Hawai'i alum.

More at the Honolulu Advertiser

King Kekaulike brings Kahuku to a halt, 3-0

Freshman Maya Palaroan scored twice and King Kekaulike negated Kahuku's team speed yesterday in a 3-0 first-round victory of the JN Automotive Group/HHSAA Division I Girls Soccer State Tournament at Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Complex.

Na Ali'i improved to 12-2-1 and advanced to meet fourth-seeded Hilo in today's quarterfinal round. Kahuku fell to 6-7-4 and will play Roosevelt in an elimination game today.

More at the Honolulu Advertiser

Mililani girls win OIA title

This year's group of seniors were freshmen the last time the Mililani girls soccer team won the O'ahu Interscholastic Association championship.

The Trojans won their 11th title, beating Kahuku, 3-0, in the OIA Red Division Championship last night at Roosevelt's Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium in front of approximately 400 fans.

More at the Honolulu Advertiser

Mililani, Kahuku to battle for OIA title

They finish goals, and each other's sentences too.

"We just want to succeed ... " started Mililani junior forward Mari Miyashiro.

"So we work off each other and help each other out," senior forward Chelsey Goo finished.

Goo scored in the first half and Miyashiro added one in the second half for the Trojans in their 2-0 win over Kapolei in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association semifinals last night at Roosevelt High School's Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium.

More at the Honolulu Advertiser

Red Raiders hold off Chargers, 1-0, for first finals appearance

"Red Raider Nation" will enter unchartered territory tonight, as Kahuku makes what is believed to be its first appearance in an O'ahu Interscholastic Association girls soccer championship game.

The Red Raiders, who finished fifth in the OIA Red Conference Eastern Division, continued their improbable run through the postseason with a 1-0 victory over West runner-up Pearl City last night at Roosevelt's Ticky Vasconcellos Stadium.

More at the Honolulu Advertiser

Kahuku girls top OIA East champ Moanalua

Kahuku accomplished what no other girls soccer team has this season — beat Moanalua — and it did it twice.

The Red Raiders upset East champion Na Menehune, 1-0, last night to advance to the semifinals of the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red Division Tournament at Moanalua.

More at the Honolulu Advertiser

Gold not changing Kai

U.S. Women's soccer player Natasha Kai figures she's still the same person that she was just a few weeks ago.

Except with a gold medal.

"It hasn't sunk in yet, that I won a gold medal," the Kahuku native said. "When I look at it, I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, I won a gold medal.' Sometimes I'm sitting back, and I'm like, 'I did it.'

More at the Honolulu Advertiser

Kai is golden in soccer

UH alum enters late in game as U.S. women top Brazil, 1-0

BEIJING — They came to the Beijing Olympics as a team trying to find its way, still adjusting to a new coach and each other, still smarting from a loss that brought humiliation on and off the field.

They dropped their first game, hardly an auspicious start for a country that had lost only one other in three Olympics. But bit by bit, game by game, they came together, figuring out what it would take to win.

More at the Honolulu Advertiser

Kai on Olympic soccer team

The tattoo-covered, goal-scoring Natasha Kai is one of the leading scorers on U.S. Women's National Team. Yet all the confidence she displays on the field doesn't always translate off it.

More at the Honolulu Advertiser

U.S. team picks Kai to play in Korea

Former Kahuku High and University of Hawai'i standout Natasha Kai has been named to the roster of the U.S. women's soccer team that will play at the 2008 Peace Queen Cup in South Korea this month.

More at the Honolulu Advertiser

Kai's three goals lift U.S. to 6-0 win

Natasha Kai had already scored two goals, and when another ball went off her foot into the back of the net, the reality of her accomplishment hit home.

It was the first career hat trick for Kai, who led the U.S. women's soccer team to a 6-0 win against Canada in a friendly at RFK Stadium yesterday.

"My mind was just like, 'Oh. My. Goodness.' I'm still kind of shocked," Kai said.

Kai said it was her first hat trick since she played at the University of Hawai'i. All three goals came in a 19-minute span in the second half when the Americans' lead went from 1-0 to 5-0.

Kai, a Kahuku High alum, had the strongest performance, but she wasn't the only one.

More at the Honolulu Advertiser