Sakamoto takes on the physical challenge

Balancing school and athletics is a challenge for every college athlete.

The first year of graduate school mixed with athletics — now that’s a completely different challenge.

Saint Louis’ Shaney Sakamoto is technically a senior on the Billikens’ women’s soccer team, which is 7-2 entering Atlantic-10 play Thursday night against Dayton.

Much of the reason for her decision to attend Saint Louis was the opportunity to participate in the school’s physical therapy program, which requires only three years of undergraduate study before three more years of post-graduate work.

The change in workload, all while playing out the final season of her college career, has turned out to be more of a challenge than she initially thought.

“Yeah, it’s not fun,” she said only half-joking on Tuesday.

The school work might not be enjoyable, but the soccer field is a place where Sakamoto and her Saint Louis teammates are having a lot of fun this season.

The Billikens tied the 2002 team for the third-best nonconference record in program history at 7-2. Saint Louis’ 4-0 record at home with no ties is the best mark in school history and the Billikens are ranked No. 3 in the latest NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Region poll.

“We’re playing really good soccer,” said Sakamoto, a 2013 graduate of Kamehameha. “I’m actually liking how we are playing. It’s not kickball. We’re playing good soccer that is nice to watch.”

This is Sakamoto’s first year as a full-time starter and she has already tied her career highs with two goals, four assists and eight points this season.

She scored the Billikens’ first goal of the season 18 minutes into the opener, a 3-1 win over Kansas State. Sakamoto added a goal on a penalty kick for the only score in a 1-0 win over Illinois.

She is one of 41 women who graduated from Hawaii high schools listed on Division I rosters this season.

Sunday, Saint Louis hosts Rhode Island, pitting Sakamoto up against high school teammate Alisha Kahele-Manners, a freshman defender who was a freshman when Sakamoto was a senior at Kamehameha.

“That will be fun because I actually haven’t really played against anybody (from Hawaii this year),” Sakamoto said. “I played with (Kahele-Manners) in high school and grew up playing a lot with her older sister so it will be fun.”

Sakamoto was a first team All-State selection by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser as a junior but missed her entire senior season with a torn ACL.

She also broke her kneecap in three places late in her senior year. It limited her to just 40 minutes played at Saint Louis as a freshman. She started six games both her sophomore and junior seasons and has started all nine matches this year.

“I think we only lost one starter out of all of the seniors who graduated last year so we have an experienced team with a lot of players from my class,” Sakamoto said. “I’m finally (starting), but I don’t mind when I get subbed out because we also have a lot of (young players) that are pretty good.”

Saint Louis qualified as one of the top eight teams for the Atlantic-10 Conference tournament during Sakamoto’s freshman year, but has missed out the past two seasons.

The Billikens finished in ninth place after going 6-3 in nonconference play last season, which is why Sakamoto’s excitement is tempered heading into A-10 play.

“Last year we thought we were going to do really well and fell apart in conference,” Sakamoto said. “I think our spring season went really well and we have good players and so hopefully it all goes the way we want it to.”