Among all American high school soccer players, about 7% will receive the opportunity to continue at the collegiate level, only 2% will reach Division 1 and less than 0.5% will make it to the Southeastern Conference.
Juniors Emma Musiek, Ana Ramirez Taylor and Lauren Van Rhein have beaten the odds and will continue their athletic and academic careers at the highest collegiate level.
Musiek started playing club soccer in second grade, and the club promoted her to the top-level team in the sixth grade. She recently committed to Auburn University to continue her athletic career.
At age six, Ramirez Taylor and Van Rhein began playing on the top teams. They recently committed to Vanderbilt University and the University of Arkansas.
“I have practice on the field three times a week and strength training the other two days and tournaments on the weekends,” Musiek said.
Musiek’s sacrifice involved far more than physical labor; she also missed out on many events off the field.
“I’ve never been to homecoming, [and] I miss Halloween, but I think the sacrifice is worth it for the outcome,” Musiek said.
Van Rhein agreed that it’s important to accept the sacrifices that come with soccer.
“It’s important to work hard and be okay with missing social stuff and stuff from school,” Van Rhein said.
It also takes a lot of work for the girls to get on college coaches’ radars.
“I have to email 10 to 15 colleges before every tournament game and send them highlights,” Ramirez Taylor said.
Principal Dan Gutchewsky believes perseverance and a strong focus on a personal goal guides athletes through adversity. He is proud of the girls’ accomplishments.
“I know they’ve been on some successful club teams, and all three are committed to SEC schools, which are big-time soccer programs. That takes a lot of dedication just from the athletic piece,” Gutchewsky said.
Gutchewsky also noted that college athletes must have academic success and athletic accomplishments.
“You’ve also got to meet the academic requirements of those institutions to even be considered. I think that’s evidence, in and of itself, that they’re hard-working,” Gutchewsky said.
While Musiek loved the campus at Auburn, Van Rhein was most impressed by the coaches and players at Arkansas.
“I liked the people there, and the girls on the team and the coaches were better than any of the other colleges I’ve been to, they felt far more professional,” Van Rhein said.
Van Rhein also visited Kansas University but was more impressed with Arkansas’s soccer program and its high-quality technology and equipment.
“I liked KU, but I narrowed it down because I think Arkansas has the better program when it comes to soccer. I liked a lot of their equipment,” Van Rhein said.
Arkansas is ranked sixth in the United Soccer Coaches poll for D1 women’s soccer.
“Arkansas had a lot of high-level equipment and resources I never saw at any other program,” Van Rhein said.
Ramirez Taylor was also interested in a few other schools, but based on scholarship and academic opportunities, she eventually decided Vanderbilt was the best fit.
“I liked U Miami and UNC, but I thought Vanderbilt would be a better fit because their education and law program was very strong, and I liked what they had to offer scholarship-wise,” Ramirez Taylor said.
A big factor in Ramirez Taylor’s decision was her future career aspirations and how Vanderbilt could help her achieve them.
“I want to be a lawyer, and they have a lot of great programs for law,” Ramirez Taylor said.
Ramirez Taylor also looks forward to entering a D1 environment with many competitive sports teams.
“All the athletes are super close because not everyone else really cares about sports, so you have a good culture with all the sports,” Ramirez Taylor said.
In girls’ soccer, it’s common for athletes to commit as early as two years before high school graduation.
“There was a roster cut in women’s soccer, so now there’s only 28 people allowed on each roster. People are committing early because it’s competitive,” Musiek said.
As a result of this roster cut, each person has a shorter window to decide which school they want to commit to than previously.
“They give you a deadline if they’re offering you a scholarship because they’ll give that money to someone else if you’re not going to go there,” Musiek said.
Although the decision-making period is brief, Ramirez Taylor finds the process reassuring. The structured timeline and clear expectations help alleviate her stress, she says.
“You got the hard stuff done. It’s now just keeping your grades up and getting in shape for college soccer,” Ramirez Taylor said.
After earning her scholarship, Musiek looks forward to joining a roster that consistently ranks among the top programs in the nation. According to the United Soccer Coaches rankings, it is currently ranked eighth.
“I look forward to being part of a program that’s been so successful in the past and hope to be able to keep the success going,” Musiek said.“I hope to be able to start all four years because most freshmen don’t start in college, but I’m hoping that when I get there, I can be at a high enough level where I can.”
Van Rhein had a similar goal, as both girls recognized the challenges of girls’ soccer players normally fighting for playtime as freshmen.
“I would just like to play. Some people go, and they don’t get a lot of playing time. I’d like to play as a freshman,” Van Rhein said.
Because all three girls play in the SEC, one of the country’s most competitive athletic conferences, they are expected to face each other multiple times throughout their college careers.
“I think it’ll be fun but also kind of sad,” Van Rhein said.
Ramirez Taylor agreed, talking about the importance of how long they’ve played on the same team together.
“We’ve played on a team together since we were five or six, so I think it’ll be fun when we eventually compete against each other,” Ramirez Taylor said.
Although their freshman season is two years away, the girls know they have time to prepare and want to begin training immediately.
“I’m gonna have to take things more seriously and get in better shape, so I’m ready when the season starts,” Van Rhein said.
Gutchewsky compared the girl’s success to that of a prior athlete at Clayton High School, Jarius Byrd.
“Jairus Byrd was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, player to ever come through here, who was a tremendous person and the best football player I’d ever seen,” Gutchewsky said.
Byrd went on to have a 9-year career in the NFL, highlighting the importance of hard work and training from this point on, as well as the immense potential these girls have.
Regardless of the girls’ collegiate success on the field, Gutchewsky feels their success will inspire upcoming players throughout the community.
Gutchewsky thinks this reflects very well on the community and represents what it offers.
“I think it shows that our kids are doing great things, and while we’re just talking about the three young women, we’ve got a lot of great things going on, and our students do so well here, whether it be athletics or academics,” Gutchewsky said.