Daily Pilot High School Athlete of the Week: Helenihi eager for success

Cassidy Helenihi still remembers how she got her start in soccer.

It would be hard for the Edison High senior to forget.

At the age of 6 or 7, Helenihi started playing for a local AYSO Region 56 team. She also still remembers the name of that team, the Red Dragonflies.

Current Edison senior teammates like Amy Feinstein, Lexi Oates and goalkeeper Zoe Clevely? Yep, they were on the Red Dragonflies too.

“We were pretty good,” Helenihi said with a smile. “I mean, it wasn’t the beautiful passing game it is today. But for 6-year-olds, we were solid.”

The bond between the Edison seniors has been established for years and years, and they have clear goals for this season. The Chargers want to win the Sunset League and advance to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game, like they did in 2014 when this senior group was freshmen.

Helenihi had fun playing on that team with then-senior MacKenzie Cerda, who went on to play at UCLA.

“She was a super-cool role model to look up to,” Helenihi said of Cerda, the 2013-14 Gatorade California Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year. “It was fun ... I got [to varsity] and I’m like, ‘OK, this is the real deal.’ My expectations were set pretty high from there. Ever since then, that’s been my goal again, to make it back to the [CIF] finals.”

Helenihi, now in her fourth season on varsity, is now the leading goal scorer for the Chargers. She’s trying to play her part to get the team back to that game. She got off to a hot scoring start in league for the Chargers (11-4-2), who improved to 4-0 in the Sunset League with Thursday night’s 3-1 victory against Newport Harbor.

Helenihi scored twice as Edison opened league with a 3-0 victory over Marina on Jan. 3. Two days later, she scored on a penalty kick that she drew in the Chargers’ golden goal, 2-1 win at rival Fountain Valley.

On Tuesday night, Helenihi came up big with an assist against another rival, Huntington Beach. She won a “dropped ball” late in overtime. Knowing that there was maybe just a minute left in stoppage time, Helenihi quickly passed it ahead to speedy sophomore Rachelle Elve, who scored another golden goal to give the Chargers a 1-0 victory.

Intelligent plays such as these are what Edison Coach Kerry Crooks has come to expect from Helenihi.

“Obviously, she’s a beast out there,” Crooks said of Heleinhi, who leads the Chargers with eight goals scored. “She’s very hard to take down, take the ball away from. She fights through a lot of fouls. Definitely a quality athlete and student and person.

“Every team needs a ball winner, someone who’s willing to go into the tackle and risk a lot. She’s not afraid of that. I mean, I have pictures of the game against Fountain Valley and there’s two girls draping on her, pulling both arms as she’s going to goal. And it’s amazing, you know, because she still has the ball. All of her focus is on the ball. It’s pretty cool. That’s a warrior, right there.”

Helenihi, who will play next year for the University of San Francisco, has grown a lot from that freshman year. That’s true physically as well, with her current height of 5-foot-9. She is versatile, able to play in the defense, midfield or up top as a forward.

Her hot streak has come at a good time for Edison, with the Sunset League as strong as its been in years. The Chargers know they have to show up to play every game. The next one is a big one, as Edison concludes the first round of league play at Los Alamitos on Tuesday. The Griffins beat the Chargers, 2-1, in the Aliso Cup final last month and also won the prestigious Excalibur Tournament. They are the top-ranked team in Orange County, and in Division 1.

Edison is not ranked in either poll.

“They’re big-time right now,” Helenihi said of Los Alamitos. “Ever since I was a freshman, every time we played Los Al it’s been a 1-0, 1-1, 2-1 game. It’s always been close, so we’ll see. I just think we need to show that heart from the beginning. We know that we need to come out strong from the whistle, or else they’ll capitalize. They have strong forwards.”

The Chargers, do, too, and the most dangerous one wears jersey No. 11. Helenihi will often hear her father Casey call out to her at Edison home games, as he is the announcer and sits on the far side of the field where the team benches are located.

“It’s just, ‘Come on, 1-1,’” Cassidy Helenihi said. “That’s all he says, ever since I was little. Before, it would be instructive. He would be telling me what to do, and I’d brush it off. Now, it’s just more encouraging. I like when he’s there. I like hearing his voice.”

Any form of encouragement is nice for Helenihi, who still does have plenty of internal motivation. She wants to win for herself, but also for her teammates. Edison has a very experienced 12-member senior class this year, and five of the seniors have committed to play at the next level.

Helenihi will miss playing with those teammates from the Red Dragonflies. More than a decade later, the girls want to go out with a bang in high school soccer.

“It’s nice to win, but it’s also fun to have those exciting games,” Helenihi said after the Huntington Beach win. “I love playing under the lights with the fans. I like the feeling of, ‘I need to bring it, I need to finish this for my team.’ I like that kind of environment when I play.”

Cassidy Helenihi

Born: March 11, 1999

Hometown: Huntington Beach

Height: 5-foot-9

Sport: Soccer

Year: Senior

Coach: Kerry Crooks

Favorite food: Sushi

Favorite movie: “The Karate Kid”

Favorite athletic moment: Helping Edison advance to the 2014 CIF Southern Section Division 1 title game as a freshman.

Week in review: Helenihi scored three total goals to help Edison earn wins over Marina (3-0) and Fountain Valley (2-1) to open Sunset League play.