On a typical sizzling hot Las Vegas Sunday, Hevani Haunga had one of those once in a career moments for the UNLV soccer team against UC San Diego, for an overtime victory at home.
The 2018 Kamehameha graduate scored three goals, each one better and bigger than the previous score, to record the program’s seventh hat trick and her first in a 3-2 win at Peter Johann Memorial Field.
The 5-foot-6 redshirt junior forward scored the game-winner five minutes into OT, her second overtime game-winner. She also scored a golden goal to beat first-place San Diego State 3-2 at home last spring.
After the Tritons (0-2-1) scored in the 12th minute, Haunga came off the bench and tied it in the 34th minute for the Rebels (3-1). UCSD regained the lead in the 55th minute, but with 15 minutes left Haunga tied it again.
In the 95th minute, Haunga found a streaking Lourdes Bosch, who passed the ball back, and Haunga kicked a shot into the left corner for the game-winner.
“It was crazy, back and forth, and super cool,” she said. “It never happened to me before. I can’t remember if I ever had a hat trick in BIIF. It was exciting. I just wanted to win.
“I was in the right place at the right time. I saw the crosses and took advantage of the opportunities. It was cool for me, and a lot of fun.”
Haunga leads the team with three goals and now has six in her career, after two scores as a sophomore.
She fell in love with the school on a visit and enjoyed the culture. It helps that UNLV has is a short plane ride home.
“I came on a visit and spoke to a lot of players and decided on the school because of the culture,” she said. “There’s no drama, everyone is inclusive, and it’s diverse. We’ve got people from all over the place. It doesn’t snow here. I don’t like snow. I have family in Utah, and I’ve been in the snow, so there was no way I would go to a college with snow.”
UNLV doesn’t have snow, quite the opposite. There’s 100-degree heat that feels like an overheated sauna without the enjoyment.
“Right now, it’s super hot, 100 to 115 degrees, and it’s dry heat,” Haunga said. “When I first got here, it was hard, but the more you train you get used to it. We don’t think about it. Everybody dies from the heat, and we’re like, ‘Yeah, this is where we play.’ We use it to our advantage.”
To those who are wondering, Haunga’s first name, Hevanilea, is a conversation starter.
“People always ask about it. They’ve never heard it before and have a hard tie pronouncing it,” she said. “Hevanilea is Tongan and from my papa, who migrated from Tonga. He’s 100 percent Tongan. It means voice from heaven.”
The daughter of Bronson and Nalani Haunga has a smart head on her shoulders. She’s a double major in accounting and finance. She wants to become a CPA and eventually work for one of the Big Four accounting firms: Deloitte, Ernest & Young, PwC, or KPMG, the non-acronym hat that golfer Phil Mickelson always wears.
“I have an internship with a smaller company in the spring and later with EY’s firm in Vegas,” Haunga said. “I did an accounting class, and it clicked for me. I joined a club, and it snowballed from there.”
Besides her name, the second-most asked question Haunga gets is do you gamble in Las Vegas?
“It’s not allowed,” she said. “Everyone asks me that. It stinks with the cigarette smoke, and it’s not a good environment.”
There are three other girls from Hawaii, including 2019 Kamehameha graduate and former teammate Kaila Ambrosio, who’s a redshirt sophomore defender. They’re all on the ground floor of a rebuild in the Mountain West Conference, where Boise State is the big dog, and UNLV is the doormat. In 2019, the Broncos finished 18-5, and the Rebels went a last-place worst 6-13-1.
That’s why Haunga’s hat trick, including her second career golden goal, was so huge. It gives the Rebels a momentum boost to piggyback the big money put into football to keep up with the new facilities arms race.
The 73,000-square-foot Fertitta Football Complex opened in 2019, and last year the Rebels began play in Allegiant Stadium, where they are co-tenants with the Las Vegas Raiders. The Fertitta brothers are the former owners of the UFC, which they sold in 2016 for $4 billion. (The Fertitta brother forked over $10 of the complex’s $22 million cost.)
So the Rebels don’t ever have to worry about kicking old soccer balls or wearing old Nike shoes or warm-up gear. Those are the perks of a Division I program boosted by billionaire alumni.
“We were all in one building, but the football team moved out. We have more space and more training room,” Haunga said. “Everything has been updated. Upstairs we have the academic advisors, and all the coaches are up there. We have study rooms and computers.
“Football gets the most stuff. They play in Allegiant Stadium with the Raiders, but we get everything we need. We get nice shoes. We’re Nike. Every sport is Nike. The school has a deal with Nike.”
The local girl in Haunga knows there’s one thing she can’t put a price tag on.
“I miss home-cooked Hawaiian food,” she said. “Squid luau and kalua pig. It’s not the same if I’m making it. And the poke. I’m scared to try to poke up here. But my teammates love Spam musubi. They love it, and we’re always making it.
“What I like best are the people and the team. It’s a good environment, our style, culture, the coaching staff. It’s a family-oriented team, and we support each other.”