There’s No Stopping Chapman’s Simmons, On or Off the Soccer Field

Lehua Simmons has a balance in her life that most college athletes don’t.

That’s because few could keep up with her.

Simmons, a junior defender on the Chapman women’s soccer team, was the head trainer for the school’s track team last spring. She worked in the admissions office during the summer, and worked three soccer camps, a basketball and a baseball camp this past year. She will be the head trainer for the men’s basketball team. A movement and exercise science major, she carries a 3.8 grade-point average, and wants to be a physical therapist.

Keeping busy is not a problem.

“I was named captain this year, so I’ve kind of taken on a leadership role,” Simmons said. “Basically, I try to lead by example. The only way to do that is to come out and play 100% every game. I’ve tried to do that.”

Coach Eddie Carrillo has come to expect nothing less of Simmons, who is one of two players left on the team from his first season three years ago. The other, Natalie Kaylor, is the sole senior on the team.

“What does [Simmons] mean to the team?” Carrillo said. “I think she shows people what you need to be like. . . . She gives 100%. I don’t think she knows how to give anything other than that.”

Simmons obviously has a perseverance many teammates her freshman year didn’t have.

“When I came in, we had a new coach, so some of the kids who would have played didn’t come back because of the coaching situation,” she said. “And because of the price of the school, a lot of kids end up going to different schools.

“Also, because it’s a Division III school, you don’t have the scholarship holding you to the athletic program. You have more options to transfer or not play anymore.”

But Chapman was exactly the environment she sought as a senior at Edison High School. She had a 4.5 GPA, and was ranked sixth in her graduating class of about 650. She visited UC Irvine, but the campus “was enormous.”

“It was a little overwhelming,” she said. “I realized I definitely didn’t want to go to a school where you have 300 people in a classroom.”

She visited the University of Puget Sound and thought the campus was gorgeous, she said. But “when I got my financial package [offers], Chapman paid me the most [80% of tuition].”

It also didn’t hurt that her older brother Jeremy played linebacker at Chapman, and is in graduate school there.

“I really wasn’t looking to play competitively in college,” she said. “I just wanted to play and have fun because I enjoy soccer. It was nice to come to a school, even though it’s Division III, that has a hard-working team.”

Carrillo shares that work ethic. A Chapman alum, he has also coached the men’s team the past three years. His schedule is worthy of Simmons’. He must budget men’s and women’s practice time with assistants Kevin Esparza and Sal Lopez. Some practices he must leave early because his other team has a game.

Soccer also shares the same field with the football team. In fact, the field is like a three-ring circus: In the fall, the two soccer teams and football team not only practice on the field, but host games there. In the spring, the lacrosse club team runs rampant.

“It’s taken a while,” Carrillo said of scheduling the field’s activities, “but we’ve almost got it down. It’s like a puzzle.”

The Panthers (10-6-2) have won seven games in a row. Last season, the Panthers had a school-record 12-4-2 record. There is only one game left this season.

“My goal is to get to the playoffs while I’m in college,” said Simmons, whose team at Edison reached the Southern Section playoffs her sophomore and junior years. “Last year, we came closest. But we haven’t progressed enough to beat the teams we need to beat. But I think we will next year.”

Simmons has scored two goals and has three assists this season. But while her contributions as a defender don’t necessarily show up in the score book, they are not overlooked by her peers. She was named first-team all-region her freshman and sophomore seasons.

In fact, she has all the characteristics Carrillo looks for in a defender. “Being tough, being aggressive,” he said. “Being a ball-winner. She doesn’t intimidate on purpose, but she does just because she goes strong to every ball.

“She’s intelligent,” said Carrillo, who also coached at Trabuco Hills and Orange high schools and Rancho Santiago College. “She puts the ball where it needs to go. She distributes the ball well. She likes to attack. She motivates her teammates. She makes them play harder. She’s a complete player.”