She prefers her nickname “Kitty” to her given name “D’awncey.” And she’s been lighting up high school and club soccer fields in Hawaii for quite a while.
And the next stop for Kitty Jones-Black in her soccer progression is Ohio State.
Going to the Big Ten is not unheard of for a Hawaii high school athlete. But usually, the radar picks it up. Somehow, she avoided all of the hubbub that comes with choosing a college.
“Ohio State, I signed with them in December,” Jones-Black said when asked where she’s going to play in college Saturday night after her Kamehameha Warriors captured the Division I state championship with a 1-0 victory over Campbell at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
Why Ohio State?
“Everyone asks that,” she said. “Honestly, it’s because the (Buckeyes) girls reached out to me. I watched how they play. It’s different from everyone else. There is not a certain player who is the star of the team. All the girls want to be together and lift the team up, so I really like that.”
Jones-Black is not sure what position she will play in college. She was a striker for the Warriors and is a center back in club for Hawaii Rush.
“It could be anywhere,” Jones-Black said. “Center back, fullback, wing or on top as a striker.”
As a freshman and sophomore for Kamehameha, Jones-Black’s Kamehameha teams were eliminated in the state quarterfinals. This year, the Warriors followed up their second ILH championship with that elusive state crown.
Jones-Black was even asked to move back to center back — a position she played as a freshman and a position she plays for the Rush — late in Saturday night’s state title-clinching victory. Starting center back Hayley Silipa went down with an injury and coach Missy Moore asked her senior leader to help out defensively during what turned out to be a pretty mighty, albeit late, Campbell offensive onslaught — one that eventually failed.
“Coach Missy places me wherever she needs me,” Jones-Black said.
As for her Kamehameha state champion teammates?
“They’re so amazing,” she added. “I love them. There’s no words. You look at them and you’re happy.”
Click here for an Ohio State video welcoming Jones-Black to the women’s soccer team.
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