Ohai enjoying the thrill of the ride

No matter how many times it happens, it still feels like a dream.

As the North Carolina women’s soccer team runs through warm-up drills, Kealia Ohai is right in the thick of things, sporting a crisp North Carolina uniform and taking instruction from Anson Dorrance.

She sprints out to the call of her No. 7 in UNC’s starting lineup, joining her teammates in the center circle before taking her spot on the midfield stripe to begin another contest.

Then the whistle blows, play begins and Ohai remembers that this is all part of her life now.

Beneath the veteran composure Ohai has displayed all season en route to a team-best 13 goals, lies the unbridled excitement of a college athlete in the midst of a too-good-to-be-true journey.

“I feel like one of the luckiest girls in the whole entire world to be on this team,” Ohai said.

“Every time we start a game and I realize what’s actually going on — that I’m actually starting for North Carolina — it’s like a dream come true.”

Ohai’s ride began as a ninth grader, when she traveled more than six hours from her home in Draper, Utah, to Las Vegas for a prominent youth soccer tournament.

As a rising star in the Olympic Development Program, Ohai garnered attention from droves of college coaches.

At that point, soccer was simply a sport to Ohai, who hadn’t thought much about her college options. That is, until one day in Vegas, when she strode onto the pitch to see Dorrance, then-owner of 18 national titles, pacing the opposite sideline.

Nervous?

“Um, yes,” Ohai said. “I saw him on the sideline. Every time he was there.”

Fortunately for Ohai, her electric pace and deadly one-on-one skills were a perfect match for the talents Dorrance sought for his trademark high-pressure style at UNC.

“It was just fun watching her run at people 1-v-1,” Dorrance said.

Opposing coaches in Utah didn’t feel the same way.

Ohai led Alta High School to the state title in each of her four years on the varsity team, earning Gatorade state player of the year accolades twice and a National High School Player of the Year award for soccer as a senior.

Despite knowing little about UNC, Ohai traveled to Chapel Hill on a recruiting trip as a junior, “just because (Dorrance) is a legend.” A day after she arrived, Ohai told Dorrance she would be a Tar Heel.

Two years later, Ohai found herself back in Chapel Hill, this time for team training camp, where Dorrance’s fiercely competitive atmosphere has been known to overwhelm younger players.

Ohai couldn’t have imagined it any better.

“I’ve traveled with national teams and things like that, and I’ve never seen anything, competition-wise, near this intensity and training schedule,” Ohai said.

“And it’s awesome because I feel like I’m getting so much better.”

With a slew of goal scorers lost from 2009, Ohai seized the opportunity for minutes, scoring the game-tying goal against second-ranked Stanford in her first home match.

From that point on, Ohai has been one of UNC’s most dependable attacking options, and is one of the team’s two players to reach double-digit goals this season. But Dorrance believes the most telling sign of Ohai’s development is the six assists she’s also registered as she’s become more comfortable as a playmaker in UNC’s offense.

“She’s playing with her head up, she’s checking back to the ball — two things that were alien to her in August, she’s starting to do now, which excites all of us,” Dorrance said.

Ohai’s standout freshman campaign has helped extinguish doubts about UNC’s success this season after losing a loaded senior class to the professional ranks in 2009. The Tar Heels enter today’s home contest against Jackson State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a mind to improve upon this season’s 17-2-2 record.

“We’re ready to come back and prove to everyone that this isn’t just a rebuilding year for us,” Ohai said. “We may have lost eight people to the pros, but we’re here to win.”

Last weekend’s upset in penalty kicks against Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament semifinals has many discounting the Tar Heels’ chances at defending last year’s national title, but Ohai believes that is a critical mistake.

“Everyone I’m sure now is doubting us and thinking they can beat us,” Ohai said.

“And that’s when we’re going to beat them.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.