Mana Wahine Wednesday: Hawaii women’s soccer goalkeeper Kennedy Justin

HONOLULU – Super expectations are nothing new for Kennedy Justin.

The University of Hawaii sophomore standout is an only child and comes from a family where education is the main focus. In her family, your best effort is the baseline for any activity you partake in.

Kennedy Justin never wanted to be average and blend into the background.

She recalls when her youth soccer coaches asked for volunteers to play goalkeeper, nobody raised their hand. When they added that the keeper gets a different colored jersey, her interest had been piqued.

A challenge with a chance to stick out. She would develop into a star at the position as she matured, turning sights to taking her athletic career to the next level.

Justin took home All-Moore League Goalkeeper of the Year honors to finish her career at Long Beach Poly High School, an impressive feat in the hot bed of high school soccer in southern California. Plenty of colleges knocked on her door, including some future foes, but she knew which program stuck out to her most.

“I definitely had a lot of opportunities, but none like the University of Hawai’i, for sure,” the rising sophomore said.

She redshirted her first college season and spent it working on her game while taking care of business in the classroom. Justin landed on the Big West Commissioner’s Honor Roll list with honors as an electrical engineering major after the 2023-24 school year.

So, of course her expectations were high when soccer returned.

When she came back to the field for her redshirt freshman campaign, she found herself in a position battle for the starting job with junior Brianna Chirpich. Going into the 2024 season-opener against Georgia Southern, Justin had worked her way towards playing time but knew Chirpich would get the first nod.

Still, the redshirt freshman keeper hoped to see the field in the UH opener. When a competitive contest broke out against the Eagles that saw the Rainbow Wahine punch in two goals within six minutes of each other to take the lead late, it looked like she would have to wait another day to take the field.

“I was like, oh, okay, there’s one minute left [in regulation], I’m not going to play [today],” Justin recalled of her Rainbow Wahine debut.

Suddenly, the redshirt freshman keeper heard her coaches barking her name.

“Kennedy, get in!”

After making six saves in her own first career college start, junior keeper Brianna Chirpich had suffered a season-ending injury with just over 90 seconds remaining in regulation and Hawaii leading, 3-2. Georgia Southern’s attack was in an all-out blitz with desperation to tie the match before the final buzzer and Justin would get no time to warm up.

“Thirty seconds later, they’re taking a shot on goal,” Justin chuckled. “I was like, oh my God, I already made my first college save, everything [happened] in like one minute.”

The Rainbow Wahine went on to close out the Eagles in the final 1:38 of regulation in the first magical win of a season filled with dynamic victories.

It wasn’t a year without obstacles. Hawaii did lose six of the next seven games, failing to generate much offensive success while Justin experienced her own growing pains in the net.

“I shamefully will admit, go ahead and look back, my first six starts were not very good,” said Justin.

She credited the coaching staff for helping dig out of an early rut while the Rainbow Wahine went through a gauntlet of non-conference opponents. Justin pointed specifically to head coach Michele “Bud” Nagamine’s energy as a key factor to lifting her up and turning around the year.

“Those [moments] are what define coaches that are just there to coach and coaches that actually care about their players,” explained Justin.

With belief that there were no tactical issues to gameplans, players called a team meeting on the road after falling at Eastern Washington to pinpoint how they could connect better.

“After that meeting, we didn’t lose a single game for a month,” Justin recounted.

Hawaii rolled through Big West play, going 6-0-1 across the first seven conference matches as a part of a bigger nine-game stretch without a loss. The redshirt freshman set a new program record during the streak as she went nearly 500 minutes without allowing a goal, posting five consecutive clean sheets in the net to help the Rainbow Wahine race up to the top spot in the standings.

Similar to the opening game of the season, UH clinched the regular season conference title in comeback fashion. After seeing UC Santa Barbara pocket a goal in the 20th minute, Fabiola Zamora and Nalani Damacion punched in second-half scores and Justin helped lock down the net to clinch the Rainbow Wahine’s first Big West regular season title and fourth regular season conference crown in program history.

“I think when that final whistle blew, it was like a weight was lifted off our shoulders,” grinned Justin.

The historic campaign for Hawaii resulted in a bevy of individual accolades from the Big West, earning seven all-conference selections and four of the six major individual awards. Among the honorees, Justin became the second player in Rainbow Wahine history to be named the Big West Goalkeeper of the Year.

She also was the first freshman from any school to earn the Goalkeeper of the Year honor for the Big West, setting the stage for a much-anticipated encore season.

On August 1, Justin was selected as one of 13 players for the 2025 United Soccer Coaches goalkeepers watch list and was one of two players from the West region to be placed on the preseason list. She returns to a Rainbow Wahine roster that brings back nearly 20 players from last season’s regular season championship squad, which helped earn UH the top spot in the Big West’s 2025 preseason coaches’ poll.

“The Rainbow Wahine, we’re so back,” Justin said ahead of Thursday’s road opener at Long Beach State. “I know you guys expect the best from us, but I promise that we’ll prove you guys right. We’re the same team, if not better this year so I’m so excited to see you guys back out there and I hope you’re excited to see us as well.”

The sophomore keeper makes just one request to fans in return to her big promise: come out and support in person, especially when the Big West conference slate begins.