It was the transaction that turned heads from the Midwest to the West Coast and beyond: Addison Steiner to Hawaii.

You could almost hear the collective “Huh?” from the soccer community.

Steiner, an established three-year talent in the Big Ten at resurgent Northwestern, decided this summer to finish her career in an unlikely place — with a struggling program thousands of miles away from anything familiar — and has since turned doubters into believers. Behind the forward’s team-leading eight goals, the Rainbow Wahine have clinched their first winning season in eight years and are in the hunt to qualify for their first Big West tournament.

The 5-foot-2 Steiner, UH’s counterattacking blonde blur, is third in the Big West in scores heading into tonight’s critical matchup with Long Beach State at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

“Oh my gosh, I would’ve never expected this,” the native Kansan said this week. “I was a little nervous coming in. But it worked out better than I could’ve even imagined. The girls welcomed me with open arms, as well as the coaches.”

On the subject of Steiner, an all-conference player, UH coach Michele Nagamine recounts a story in which she was sitting in the stands scouting a game nearby two chatting Pac-12 and Big Ten coaches. The topic of transfers came up, and a big loss on the part of Northwestern. Nagamine piped in and informed the others that Addie Steiner was headed to Hawaii.

“It was just total disbelief,” Nagamine said. “How the heck did this Kansas girl find Hawaii? I think that’s the question of the year.

“I just think Addie’s a genius for picking us,” she said with a laugh.

All the success of a turnaround season, from 3-14-1 to 9-3-1 and counting, still begs the question: Why the change? Why leave a good thing for the unknown? It’s come up often.

“That’s always a tough question,” Steiner said, pausing.

“I guess I knew soccer could take me different places, and I wanted to take advantage of that my senior year,” she said. “And just do something completely different that I’d never done before. I always like new changes and new experiences, so I knew soccer would get me there.”

And Evanston, Ill., doesn’t get much more different than Honolulu, a place she’d never seen except mostly in Pinterest pictures. Suddenly the West Coast was not far enough.

Once that idea took hold, there was no shaking it for the strong-willed Steiner. Even leading an NCAA tournament team in goals and assists (seven apiece) last fall could not slake her wanderlust.

“I talked to my parents and they thought it was a crazy idea,” she said.

Steiner reached out to Nagamine with a simple email in the spring. Was there space on the roster?

Nagamine, skeptical, looked her up; Steiner’s credentials were legit. She was coming off consecutive All-Big Ten second-team selections. Before that, she was a 2013 NSCAA Girls All-America pick out of high school in Prairie Village, Kan., and the state’s offensive player of the year.

“My first question was, ‘What’s wrong with her?’ ” said Nagamine, who’d already signed her initial 2016 class and dismissed past emailed overtures.

Once Steiner, a communications major, got her official release from Northwestern, they could talk formally. And the coach became convinced.

“All it took for me was basically one conversation with Addie,” Nagamine said. “She was very conversational, very honest, very sincere.”

There was still doubt about how she’d fit in. Upon her arrival in late summer, it was quickly apparent that Steiner’s speed and finishing ability up top were exactly the things the possession-minded Wahine needed, adding fangs to their once-toothless bite. They just needed a little time to chew.

Steiner has seven goals in the last six games after scoring once in the first seven. Four of the scores are game-winners: vs. Nevada, at Air Force, and both of last week’s Big West games, UC Riverside and UC Davis.

She has 27 career goals and counting.

Co-captain Lauren Takai hailed Steiner for her unselfishness even as she carries much of the offensive load.

“She’s really good at reading what me and Raisa (Strom-Okimoto) do (from midfield),” Takai said. “So if we have the ball, she sometimes holds her runs. And she makes her run when we have the space. She’s really good at that, knowing when to make the run for us and when to be open.”

That fast bond is visible when the team comes to her defense when she’s leveled by aggressive defenders. Which is often, given how hard she plays. Her older brother, Grant Mosier, likens her to a 5-foot-10 player in a 5-2 body.

“Addie’s always been a player that’s been fueled by her passion and her love of the sport,” said Mosier, a mentor for her. “And I think that that, even though she was playing well at a high level, that was something she was lacking a little bit of (at Northwestern). … I’ve definitely seen that passion and that love of the game come back.”

The Northwestern Wildcats are still in great shape; they are 12-1-1 and are ranked No. 22 nationally. But that’s beside the point for Steiner, who felt “like part of the family right away.”

Nagamine still can’t quite believe her good fortune.

“It’s probably one of those decisions that we’re going to look back on and say, ‘That was amazing.’ ” she said.