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Randi Fontes and Shayla Padilla grew up not far from one another in the central Oahu town of Wahiawa. 

"Pretty close, actually. Maybe five minutes away from each other," Fontes estimated. 

Each took her own journey in the sport of soccer — Fontes to Pearl City High School and later the University of Hawaii and Padilla to Leilehua and then Oral Roberts University — but their paths have crossed once more for the pair of 2017 prep graduates, this time as teammates at Division-II Chaminade this fall. 

Fontes, a senior midfielder/forward, and Padilla, a graduate student and midfielder, took some time Tuesday afternoon to talk about their soccer careers, the source of inspiration for each and some of their future aspirations. 

FINDING A FIT 

After earning all-league recognition and All-Hawaii honorable mention as a standout forward at Pearl City, Fontes played her first season of collegiate soccer at the University of Hawaii. Ultimately, she decided to transfer about a half-mile down Dole Street, where she has starred ever since. 

But it almost never happened. 

"I actually was gonna quit (soccer) after I transferred from UH and just get my nursing degree at (Kapiolani Community College), but my Chaminade coach (Michelle Richardson) got in touch with my mom, who gave her my contact information and she called me the next day. Honestly, I think it was probably the best decision I've made, to transfer; I wasn't really happy playing soccer at UH," said Fontes, who logged 218 minutes and played in 11 games for the Rainbow Wahine in 2017. 

It didn't take Fontes very long to make an impact with her new squad. She led the team in goals, assists and points while playing in all 14 matches and starting 13 of them as a sophomore in 2018, when she was selected as the team's most outstanding player and earned All-Pacific West Conference Third Team recognition. 

Fontes was a repeat All-PacWest Third Team honoree as a junior in 2019, when she again led the team in goals and points and was also selected as Academic All-PacWest. 

There was no 2020 season, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the PacWest played in three separate pods (Hawaii, Northern California and Southern California) and the Silverswords wound up winning the Hawaii pod title with a record of 1-0-3.

"It was different, kind of, just staying home and playing only the Hawaii teams, but it did give us a boost of confidence in a way," Fontes expressed. "I believe everything happens for a reason. I think it was good for us to win that Hawaii pod and give us a boost for this (fall) season, because we've never really won anything really in the PacWest; we're always ranked last or second to last."

In Fontes' first three years on the team, the Silverswords have compiled a record of 5-20-7. In the spring, she became the first player in program history to earn PacWest Player of the Year honors. In her team's four matches, she scored five goals and had 10 points and once again picked up academic all-conference honors and was selected as Chaminade's Female Athlete of the Year. 

"That felt really good, honestly, because I do work so hard and I feel like my hard work finally got noticed in a way," Fontes said. "The past few years I think I got third team selection my first year, the year after that I was third team again, so to be first team or Player of the Year, that was really exciting for me."

The 5-foot-1 Fontes is on the cusp of etching her name into the Chaminade record books. With her next goal, Fontes will tie Caitlin Tatemichi as the program's all-time leader in goals scored; two more and she will be alone on top. 

"I think it will be super rewarding, but also bittersweet because it's my last year playing in college, but I'm super happy and excited; hopefully I can score two soon," said Fontes, who has netted 14 goals and tallied 31 points in her Silverswords' career. 

Ultimately, it was her education, however, that was the catalyst for Fontes' transfer to Chaminade back in 2018. 

"I think just being able to do my nursing, get my nursing degree while playing soccer was why I went to Chaminade. I wasn't able to do that at UH," Fontes explained. 

Fontes is on track to graduate with her nursing degree in the spring of 2023. Her hopes are to become a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). It was the plight of her nephew Benjamin, who was born four months premature and spent the first six months of his life at the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, and the care that he received from the staff there that inspired Fontes to pursue nursing as a career. 

"I would go to the NICU every day to go visit him," she recalled. "The doctor said he wasn't supposed to make it, so seeing my family happy when he was finally able to come home was really rewarding. It was nice seeing all the nurses help him get better and stronger."

Benjamin turns four years old in December. 

"He's the strongest little boy I know," Fontes affirmed. 

SOONER STATE TO THE 808

While Fontes stayed home and went to UH after high school, Padilla took her talents to Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oral Roberts University. 

Padilla thrived at ORU, where she appeared in 58 matches over four seasons and tallied 17 points in her career, including five goals and seven assists. Padilla was one of three Golden Eagles to start all 15 matches during the spring 2021 season, her final one with the program. 

It was during the spring that Padilla found out that her mother, Leigh, and grandmother, Winnifred Ganigan, were diagnosed with breast cancer. 

"I found out two weeks apart," Padilla said, "both after soccer practice. It was an intense January and February for me, especially since I was in Oklahoma and all I wanted to do was come home."

Padilla had been weighing her options even before she learned of her mother and grandmother's diagnosis. But that was largely due to her school situation. 

"I majored in sports management at ORU and toward the end of my senior year I decided that I don't actually want to do this, like, ‘what am I doing?,' " Padilla disclosed. "I talked to my parents, I prayed about it and in my heart I knew that I really want to do something with kids, so I decided to do my master's in elementary education, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay at ORU or come back, but when I found out my mom and grandma have breast cancer I came back right away."

Padilla reached out to Richardson at Chaminade and the rest, as they say, is history. 

"I got in touch with coach Michelle and she gave me an opportunity to play soccer. I wanted to be at home and stay at home to be close to my mom and grandma," she said. 

During a recent team meeting with regards to October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Richardson surveyed her student-athletes if any of them have had a family member affected by cancer. 

Every player raised her hand. 

Padilla was compelled at that point to share her story. 

"I felt like it was something I had to mention. I wasn't going to mention it at all, but if I have a funk, I just felt like just in case … I know, I shouldn't let that stuff get to me because — excuse me but I'm going to swear a bit here — my mom is a badass, so I know she can get through this," Padilla said. 

To be sure, though, Padilla is grateful for the support. 

"No matter what, I know they'll be there for me and I know some people on the team are going through the same thing, so I just want them to know that I'm going through the same thing and I'll be there for them," she added. 

Two games into her first season at Chaminade, Padilla is feeling right at home. 

"It was so different when I was in Oklahoma. I was the only Hawaii person there and we all talk a certain way, pidgin, I guess, but I never spoke like that in Oklahoma because I knew people were gonna be like, ‘what are you saying?,' but now I speak pidgin all the time," Padilla laughed. 

Padilla is the only one of the 23 local players for the Silverswords to have graduated from Leilehua. She has played with or against a large number of those teammates, however. 

"Yeah, I actually played club against most of them, so it's nice to just be able to play with them again. It's just so nice to be around Hawaii people. I really didn't like being by myself in Oklahoma, but it's super nice being back home with everybody and knowing how they play and everything," said Padilla, who is enrolled in Chaminade's Masters of Elementary Education program. 

"The whole program is 18 months, which is really nice, but it's all online and I like being in-person and asking questions, so it's hard, but my last six months are student teaching so I'm super excited about that. I'm happy with how short the program is — 18 months isn't too bad — and I'm excited to be doing something I really want to do," she said. 

HIGH HOPES FOR THE FALL

Both Padilla and Fontes are optimistic about this particular Chaminade team, which started off its fall campaign with a two-game road trip to Idaho two weeks ago. 

The Silverswords hung tough against then-No. 11 Northwest Nazarene, but fell short, 1-0. Two days later, they pulled out a 2-1 win over Central Washington. 

"I think playing a good team like (Northwest Nazarene) will prepare us for the PacWest — Point Loma and Concordia — games like those will help us prepare for our tougher games in the conference," Fontes said. 

"It's going pretty good. I think we have a lot of potential this year," she added. "We have a few D1 transfers that will add to our team and help me out a lot. I feel like my team works hard, everybody works hard, so we have a lot of potential this season."

Fontes notched her first goal of the season — which was assisted by Sharon Cain (Kamehameha ‘18 of Honolulu) in the 45th minute of the match against Central Washington. The Wildcats equalized six minutes later, but Chaminade got the game-winning goal from Shantel Torres-Benito (Iolani ‘17 of Waipahu) in the final minute of regulation. 

Like Padilla, Torres-Benito also transferred from a Division I program in Sacramento State. 

"We've all played against each other in club pretty much throughout our lives and then in high school , but I've never really played with any of them until now," Fontes explained.

Padilla only slightly holds that against Fontes. 

"I always knew about her because of club (soccer) and I went to Leilehua, but I was so pissed she didn't go to Leilehua because we weren't the best, so honestly we could have used her," Padilla laughed. 

Now all of that is water under the proverbial bridge as the duo have teamed up for the same cause. 

"I feel this team has so much potential," Padilla added. "My last season at ORU wasn't the best, we only won two games, but I was talking to my dad and telling him how we can be so good; we're so fast."

REFLECTING ON THEIR PREP DAYS

Padilla can still vividly recall her Leilehua team reaching the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II championship game back in January of 2014. 

"My freshman year," Padilla reminisced. "We lost to Kalaheo."

It's still one of her fondest memories of her prep days, along with the spring season of her senior year, when Padilla took up track and field on a whim. 

"I did the hurdles; I actually really liked it. I don't know why I didn't start earlier. I made it to states my first year of track, so that was awesome. I guess it helps to have long legs for hurdles," said the 5-foot-6 Padilla. 

Fontes, on the other hand, focused solely on soccer. 

The pair have taken different paths that have converged this fall for the Silverswords. Both are appreciative of the journey to this point, including their four years of soccer at their respective high schools. 

"I think it kind of prepares you for what it's like in college," Padilla said. 

Fontes added, " I think high school sports are important because in high school is the time where kids fall into peer pressure and they start not doing good in school, so I think for me, it kept me in check in a way, to get good grades in school so you can play soccer and I guess that's helped me transfer over to college because I feel like I have a good work ethic on and off the field, in school as well."

Fontes, Padilla and the Silverswords (1-1) will return to the pitch Thursday morning for a non-conference game against Hawaii-Hilo (2-2) at Saint Louis School. They will then host Hawaii Pacific (1-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday.