They began in two vastly different endeavors.

Tierra “TJ” Reyno was a starting running back for the Waipio Panthers, competing with and against boys in flag football for four seasons, beginning in second grade. She followed that up with two years of tackle football, again with and against boys in her age group.

When Kristen Fujinaga was 5 and 6, she was taking ballet lessons.

Now, Reyno and Fujinaga share a common goal: leading the Mililani girls soccer team to its fourth consecutive Oahu Interscholastic Association title and third state championship, the first since 1994.

“I want to win a state championship before I graduate,” said Reyno, a 5-foot-2 junior striker who this month was named to the 2011 girls high school national and Far West All-America teams selected by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. “Hopefully, it will be this season because I know how badly Kristen wants it.”

Fujinaga, a 5-4 senior, is a returning all-state first-team defender and four-year starter. As an underclassman, she felt the pain of disappointment when Mililani finished third, second and then fourth, respectively, in the past three state tournaments.

How far the Trojans advance this season will depend largely on the offensive spark Reyno provides and the defensive leadership Fujinaga exhibits. Both are quick, a hallmark of the Mililani squad, and both are skilled dribblers and passers.

When Mililani (2-0-1 OIA West) played host Pearl City to a 1-1 tie on a rain-soaked campus field four nights ago, the Chargers would quickly collapse two defenders onto Reyno whenever she came close to the ball. To counter this tactic, which opposing coaches began using last season, Mililani coach Ray Akiona moved Reyno from her outside-forward position to attacking midfielder.

Now, Reyno was responsible for not only looking for her own opportunities to score, but she also became responsible for creating opportunities for her teammates.

“She’s like a shooting guard who is now (simultaneously) playing both guard positions, shooting guard and point guard,” Akiona said, using a basketball analogy.

Fujinaga, as the team’s sweeper, is the last defender in front of the goalkeeper. She is responsible for controlling any ball or opposing player breaking past other defenders.

Fujinaga has to have the smarts to decide whether to maintain her defensive position or leave it to make an individual play, Akiona explained.

“She’s focused like a hunter. She can track ’em down, and she can get ’em,” said Akiona, who has guided Mililani to five of its 13 OIA titles and whose teams in recent years have only allowed two or three goals during the OIA regular season.

But, as Fujinaga showed during the Pearl City game, she is not afraid of going on the attack, pushing the ball far upfield.

“She’s allowed to do that. But I get nervous sometimes,” Akiona admitted.

“She brings an aggressive attitude to the field,” added Eric Tamashiro, who coaches Fujinaga on the Ka‘oi Express club team. “She does not back down.”

Akiona said Fujinaga, a two-time team co-captain, is given much leeway because she is “very mature” and has good on-field instincts.

“Sense and sensibility,” he said, describing her.

Fujinaga said she has thrived on the soccer field since she was 7 because soccer is “more competitive” than ballet.

“I’m a very competitive person,” said Fujinaga, who has orally committed to California Baptist, which has one of the top Division II women’s soccer programs.

Reyno, who records game statistics for the Mililani varsity football team, said she gave up playing tackle football because “the boys were getting too big.” And her parents advised her that they saw no future for her in football.

She then turned to soccer, which became a passion. She quickly excelled as a sharpshooting attacker, and has been selected for national and Olympic developmental programs.

She thinks more of soccer than boys, Reyno confided with a smile. Boys, she said, are “a distraction. You can only have one passion in life.”

“She plays with so much passion, and yet she is not overbearing to other players,” Akiona said of Reyno. “Usually with elite players, they got their own vision, their own agenda. But TJ won’t (slight) anybody just because (that other person’s) game is far from her own game. At the same time, don’t underestimate her. Or her talent.”