The recruiting for women’s college soccer may be one of the most stressful processes an athlete in their junior or senior year of high school has to go through. For some players, it can take months, even up to a year of emailing and calling coaches before they find their perfect fit.
Varsity women’s soccer teammates Andrea Leyva and Demi Gronauer talk about collegiate sports recruiting and the process of committing to play D1 soccer at intense college athletic programs.
Both girls are in their senior year here at Faith Lutheran and lead the women’s soccer team with a commanding voice. Andrea, varsity captain, has been playing soccer for Faith Lutheran for all 4 years of her high school career. Andrea is a very impressive player with a resume full of club soccer awards and accolades, and even a call up to the U.S. Women’s National team U15 camp. Last year, she was faced with a tough decision of commitment to three powerhouse collegiate soccer teams.
She was recruited on official visits to Northwestern University, the University of Colorado Boulder, and the University of Washington and those gave her a very tough decision about where she would spend her next four years as an athlete. “My recruiting process was a mix of emotions and a new experience that I really enjoyed,” said Leyva, “The easiest part was hearing from several coaches that contacted me and gave me the opportunity to decide between a lot of options. Having to make a final decision was definitely the hardest part, considering the variety of great offers the several schools had paired with academics and athletics. As well as taking into consideration the time limits on offers, meaning I didn’t have that much time to make a final decision, which made the process more difficult and overwhelming. But, coming down to the final decision of picking came down to an inner feeling and connection that I was looking for from all the overwhelming conversations I had with each of the coaches. Feeling secure in my choice made the final decision a bit more special, especially feeling the relief that it’s all over.”
Senior goalkeeper Demi Gronauer has been playing on the women’s soccer teams for two years and has a long history of varsity players before her. Her two older sisters also played for the women’s varsity soccer team and went to play D1 soccer after graduating from Faith. Demi went down a different path of recruitment than her friend Andrea, sealing her spot on the soccer team at Middle Tennessee State University. “My recruiting process was pretty easy,” said Gronauer “After a game at an out of state tournament the head coach had watched, he texted me and told me that he really liked me and wanted the rest of my game schedule for the week. After the week was up we set up a time to call and during the call we just got to know each other. He then invited me to a camp that Middle Tennesee was hosting and I went. While at the camp we took a tour of the campus and I really fell in love with it. After the camp, I talked with all the coaches and they said that they really liked me, and thought I would be a great fit in their program. We set up another call for later in the week and that’s when they officially gave me an offer to play at their school.”
These two girls have shown exceptional discipline and determination on their journey to playing soccer at an exceedingly high level or performance. The athletics program at Faith Lutheran is eager to see their success in college.
