The University of Hawaii women’s soccer team got in an unscheduled workout on Saturday morning, and it was pure joy for Mauians Penny Noland and Kaiya Kapaku.

The pair were surrounded by teammates and supporters as they waved signs and danced for three hours in a gathering to support the Hawaii Food Bank’s efforts to help Maui in the wake of the wildfires three weeks ago.

On Monday night, the two Maui Interscholastic League graduates — Noland is a sophomore out of Baldwin High School and Kapaku is a freshman from Kamehameha Maui — were on a plane to the Mainland as the Rainbow Wahine (1-1-1) departed for their first road trip of the season. They will play at Air Force on Thursday and at UNLV on Sunday.

Saturday’s event was finally a chance for the Mauians to physically help with the relief efforts — they were both on Oahu for training when the fires happened on Aug. 8.

“It felt amazing because seeing everything going on and being so close, but yet so far away, I kind of felt, like, helpless, but to actually be able to do something to help contribute was amazing,” Kapaku said Monday morning.

Like nearly everyone else, Kapaku couldn’t get ahold of her loved ones right away on the night and next morning of the fires. Finally, when she got ahold of parents Ron and Kyla Kapaku, she learned their Upcountry home was spared and all of her family were OK.

“Everyone is safe in my family, thank goodness, and our house is safe, everything is safe, God bless,” Kapaku said of the initial night. “It was very stressful not knowing and especially because there was no (cellphone) service. I was trying to get through to my parents and no one was answering me. … When they did, everything was OK.”

Hawaii coach Michele “Bud” Nagamine said that she wished she had outfitted her players with fitness monitors for the day at Hawaii Food Bank because they did not stop dancing for the entire three hours.

“It was a lot of fun,” Kapaku said. “Seeing all the cars drive by, even like stopping to give a dollar was the most rewarding thing ever. Even to get something, anything, it was amazing.”

The Rainbow Wahine beat Sacramento State 3-1 on Thursday and it was like a big family reunion — 14 players with Hawaii ties were on the two rosters, including King Kekaulike graduate Madee Dougherty, who is a standout for the Hornets.

“I did get to talk to her after the game, I was just wondering how her family was because I know she’s from Upcountry,” Kapaku said of Dougherty. “When she told me everyone was safe, that just gave me relief, too, knowing that all the Maui players are OK and they are doing OK.”

While Kapaku has been on the field for 27 minutes so far this season, Noland has seen 50 minutes of action — both have played in two of the three matches. Noland made every road trip last year, too.

Noland said she and her family are doing as well could be expected.

“Obviously it was a heartbreaking event, so it was definitely hard to be away from home throughout all of it, but I’m from Wailuku, all my family lives in Wailuku, so family-wise, house-wise we were fine,” Noland said. “But I have a lot of friends who live in Lahaina — Maui’s small, you know everyone, so we knew so many people who lost everything, which is obviously extremely difficult to deal with and hear about.

“Contacting people was hard, so yeah, definitely difficult.”

Noland wholeheartedly agreed with Kapaku that the Saturday event was incredibly important for the whole team, but it was extra special for the Mauians.

“That was actually a great day and I was so excited to be a part of it,” Noland said. “We were taking money, accepting donations and just basically sign-waving for the Hawaii Food Bank and all the donations were going to Maui. They had a D.J. there, it was a super fun event.”

Noland said that the opportunity to physically help with the situation was a huge relief to her.

“I honestly didn’t lose any energy (dancing), I was really hyped to be there and to be finally feeling like I was contributing and helping since I’ve been away,” she said.

Nagamine spoke with The Maui News during Saturday’s event.

“It’s pretty cool,” Nagamine said. “It’s so good to see, this is what being a part of our community is all about. We are Hawaii’s team. Even though we’re on Oahu, we’ve got three Maui girls and when people are in need, they support us, we support them. This is what Ohana’s all about.”

The third player Nagamine was referring to is Alexis Ballesteros, a freshman on the Rainbow Wahine roster who is listed from Beaverton, Ore., though she was born and raised on Maui until she was about 12 years old, according to Nagamine.

Nagamine said Ballesteros’ grandma and uncle lost their home in the Lahaina fire.

“So, it hit especially close to home for us,” Nagamine said. “She lives in Oregon now, but on her locker plate in our locker room she has Lahaina, Maui, on there.”

Nagamine said that the entire state is standing behind all of Maui and the soccer community has stepped up. Both of the MIL graduates on the roster were standouts for Maui’s Albion Soccer Club, to which Nagamine has close ties.

“We’ve watched these Maui girls basically grow up,” Nagamine said. “I can remember coaching Penny and Kaiya in soccer clinics when they were back in 7th and 8th grade. They were really little at the time because I was working with the Maui college ID camp at the time. (Albion official) Brent Nunes brings us over every single year, either me or my assistant coaches — everybody fights to go work the camp.

“So, it’s been great to see the history of Maui girls that we’ve had at University of Hawaii. We’re just trying to keep that pipeline alive.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.