Frank Baumholtz III coached Sunshine Fontes for four years at Pearl City and has seen her develop from a supremely talented freshman to an even more supremely talented senior leader.
Fontes earned her second Honolulu Star-Advertiser Player of the Year honor in girls soccer which you can read about in today’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser here.
Fontes, who is a three-time All-State first-teamer, was also Player of the Year in her freshman campaign. As a junior, she only played part of the season due to her commitment to the U.S. U-17 national team and did not get postseason accolades by the newspaper.
Fontes, who is rehabbing a knee injury that kept her out of the state tournament, is headed to UCLA, where she is expected to redshirt this fall.
Her growth on the national level will be watched closely by Hawaii fans. Kahuku’s Natasha Kai is the only previous Hawaii woman to make it to the top national team.
“She has the potential to be there on the women’s national team,” Baumholtz said. “Does she have the drive to go through everything you need to go through to get there? If she has that drive and with her skills and if her desire is to be there, she’ll be there.”
As for Fontes’ recovery process after knee surgery, Baumholtz said, “She’s doing miraculously well. She has good mobility and is following rules of rehab, making great progress. She’s really upbeat and pleased with how the surgery went. She has a positive attitude, smiling. We’re going to miss her tremendously. I hope next year somebody else steps up for us.”
Fontes is the eighth OIA girls soccer player to be named to the All-State first team three times. The others are Daelenn Tokunaga (Pearl City, 2016-18), TJ Reyno (Mililani, 2011-13), Storm Kenui (Moanalua, 2011-13), Tiana Fujimoto (Moanalua, 2009-11), Tani Costa (Kalani, 2007-09), Sara Yoro (Mililani, 2003-05) and Mallory Iha (Mililani, 2001-03).
To see the complete All-State girls soccer team, click here.
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