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The love that Laulea Akana-Phillips has for the sport of soccer will probably never fade.

It's just looking a bit different these days.

Akana-Phillips, who is from Waianae and is a 2017 graduate of Kamehameha Schools, is in her fifth year with the Idaho State University women's soccer program. A multitude of injuries, however, limited her to just 13 career games (all of them in the fall of 2018) and ultimately led Akana-Phillips down another path: coaching.

She is in her first season as a graduate assistant with the Bengals.

"I honestly didn't think I'd go into coaching this soon, but honestly, with how things worked out with me as a player, kind of having to step away because of all my injuries from previous years, it was just a way for me to keep in touch with soccer," said Akana-Phillips, who earned her bachelor's degree in university studies with a minor in digital media in the spring of this year.

During her prep days at Kamehameha, Akana-Phillips earned three varsity letters in soccer and also threw the shot put and discus on the track and field team. She was named to the All-Interscholastic League of Honolulu second team as a junior in 2016, the same year she picked up All-Hawaii honorable mention honors.

After she redshirted in her first year at Idaho State, Akana-Phillips started 11 matches in 2018 and logged a total of 1,021 minutes that season. She ranked fourth in the Big Sky Conference with an average of 4.62 saves per game, including a career-high 14 saves against Utah State.

An array of lingering ailments have kept Akana-Phillips off the field since. But when the door closed on her playing career, another one crept ajar. Akana-Phillips is grateful to Bengals third-year coach Debs Brereton for bestowing her with the opportunity.

"Obviously it's been a part of my life for a really long time, but taking a different role and helping the players with a different aspect is what led me to staying on staff and coach Debs, she's been a big help in keeping me around and I'm just here for the girls and for the program," said Akana-Phillips, who began work on her master's degree in athletic administration just this week.

"Obviously I just want what's best for them and then just learning and gaining new experience from this side of things, too, so it's all very new, totally different, but super exciting at the same time."

Akana-Phillips's duties including breaking down film, assisting with the goalies and well, "a lot of everything, everywhere … just kind of doing things as we need and just making sure these girls are ready to go for this fall season."

The fall season got underway for the Bengals with a pair of home matches over the weekend. They played Utah State to a scoreless tie on Thursday and lost to Westminster (Utah), 2-1, on Sunday.

"I think the team has some great things ahead of them," Akana-Phillips said. "It's a super young team, but very diverse in style and play and everyone just works hard no matter what, so I'm excited for the girls as they take on this year, too."

The Idaho State roster includes three players also from the state of Hawaii in junior defender Karlin Wurlitzer (Mililani '18), freshman defender Callie Mullen (Mililani '20) and freshman midfielder Meagan Tamashiro (Mililani '20).

"I think things are going pretty well so far," said Wurlitzer, who has started in all 47 career games that she has appeared in for the Bengals, dating back to the 2018 season.

For many of the newcomers to the team, last weekend was their very first taste of collegiate soccer.

"For a lot of them that was their first ever two games in the same weekend, so especially that Sunday game was really kind of tough to get used to when you're just starting out, so I think it's a learning experience for them and a learning experience for us not having had a season — like a true season — for a while, just to get back into the swing of things and I think it taught us a lot about building off of our successes and trying to fix what we need to fix in such a short period of time," Wurlitzer said.

The COVID-adjusted spring season proved to be a tough one for Idaho State, which went 0-8-1 overall and 0-7-1 in conference games.

"We have a lot of new faces and it brings a lot of energy and optimism, so we're looking forward. The spring was kind of tough for us, but we're looking forward and trying to build on that for the future," Wurlitzer said.

The immediate future, meanwhile, will see the Bengals in Hawaii this weekend for a pair of games in the four-team Outrigger Soccer Kickoff at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

Idaho State (0-1-1) will play South Dakota State (2-0) at 4:30 p.m. Friday. It will take on North Texas (2-0) at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

In a bit of a scheduling quirk, the Bengals — and their quartet of local girls — won't get to face the hometown Rainbow Wahine over the weekend, but it won't put a damper on their trip home.

"Oh yeah, I mean, I know they just said no fans, but just the thought of being home and playing on the field that you grew up watching, in the parking that you grew up playing, it's kind of like a full-circle moment so I think we're all very excited for that," Wurlitzer said.

South Dakota State will also bring a local touch with a trio of players from the state of Hawaii in senior midfielder Karlee Manding (Waipahu '18), sophomore midfielder/foward Kaycee Manding (Waipahu '20) and freshman forward/midfielder Teani Arakawa (King Kekaulike '21).

"Me and Callie actually grew up playing with Kaycee as kids, so I think it's super exciting, I guess, to see the opposite view and play against her," Tamashiro noted.

Meanwhile, Sunday's matchup against North Texas presents a unique opportunity for the Bengals. The starting goalkeeper for the Mean Green is Sarah Fuller, a graduate transfer from Vanderbilt, where she starred on the women's soccer team, but also made history for the football team when she became the first woman to score points in a Power-Five college football game.

"Obviously I won't be playing on the field, but for the other girls I think it's such an inspiration to play alongside someone like that as an opponent is just moving and what she did as an athlete with Vanderbilt soccer and being a kicker for the football team, it's just paving ways for women and women athletes all across the world," Akana-Phillips said. "I mean, I'm pretty sure every girl on the team retweeted something about her at some point in her career there, so that's just exciting."

Wurlitzer agreed with that sentiment.

"Just the fact that she's such an influence across all sports, I mean, she's been to the ESPY's, she's talked with Naomi Osaka, she's talked with all these major people and we get to like, shoot on her, you know, hopefully — actually, we're defense, so (Tamashiro) will get to shoot on her, hopefully — and so I think it'll just be really fun to just be in that presence and know that the future of women's soccer is right there, on the same field as us," she said.

The journey from Pocatello, Idaho to Honolulu was not an easy one. The team left campus at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday for the first of three flights. They flew from Pocatello to Salt Lake City, then to Phoenix and finally to Honolulu, where they arrived around noon that day.

No matter how rough the travel, it will have been worth it for Idaho State's 808 contingent.

"We are repenting where we came from and I think that's always in the back of our heads," Wurlitzer said.

Akana-Phillips will get to be reunited with a couple of her old coaches with Leahi Soccer Club in Michele "Bud" Nagamine and Marc Fournier, the head coach and associate head coach for UH, respectively.

"I still reach out to (Fournier) and ask for some advice because I'm still learning as my first year on staff … it's just a blessing to have resources like that and people like that in my life, so big blessings for them and I can't wait to see them this weekend, too," Akana-Phillips said.

In accordance with the City and County of Honolulu's ban on large gatherings, fan attendance will not be permitted at this weekend's Outrigger Soccer Kickoff.