Division III Women's Soccer Recruiting Questions

illinoisdad · 10-19-2009, 02:31 PM

Hi, I am a new poster to this forum, have read some great informational posts and was hoping some folks could share there experiences regarding the DIII recruiting process specific to women's soccer.

My daughter is a sophomore and plays for a good Midwestern regional club team that will be going to the Metro United, CASL and Orange Classic tounaments/showcases this year. The coach has suggested that the girls start thinking about where they might be interested in going and contacting a few coaches in advance of these tournaments to come watch them. Since we may not come to these tournaments again next year, I don't want her to miss that opportunity.

If my daughter plays in college, she likely will look to do so with an academically strong Division III team. Can anyone help me with understanding how this works so I can help her plan her approach?

-Will coaches be receptive to watching her/talking to her/spending time with her in her sophomore year?

-I have read a lot on this forum regarding Ivy and NESCAC schools and their approach to tips or other admissions boosts. Can anyone provide color to how that may work at some of the competitive midwestern LACs (Carlton, Kenyon, Grinnell, Denison) and Wash U. St. Louis, or similar schools?

-Does one have to apply ED to get that tip or boost?

-What information should we try and find out from the coach and what will they want to know about her, especially since she does not yet have standardized test scores?

-Finally, how much unsolicited scouting goes on in these tournaments where the coaches reach out to the kids?

Thanks for the help.

3togo · 10-19-2009, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Finally, how much unsolicited scouting goes on in these tournaments where the coaches reach out to the kids?

easiest question in the bunch. Coaches can respond to contacts from prospcective players at any time ... so if your daughter emails a coach or fills out a contact form on their website the coach can respond. However there are very specific rules by sport and division (and some leagues have their own more restrictive rules) about when coaches can proactively contact players. If you go to The Official Web Site of the NCAA - NCAA.org - NCAA.org you can find the guidelines about coaches communicating with players.

marymac · 10-19-2009, 02:58 PM

My daughter also plays soccer and was at the Orange Classic as a sophomore. She emailed several coaches, but the sophomores were at fields 20 minutes from the Juniors and Seniors.
She contacted a few coaches in general as a sophomore, but only one watched her game and replied positively. She also talked to one coach when we visited a school before the junior year.
This year her team will be at Disney, Jefferson Cup and several midatlantic tournaments. She is interested in DIII only at UAA or NESCAC types of teams.
Her first choices are RPI and Case. I don't know what tournaments CASE attends.
What I want her to do is to have SATs, SATIIs, and two AP exams completed before her senior year. If a coach is interested, at least she will have some test results available before her senior year. Some coaches emailed her back and asked if she had a video.
We haven't spent the money, but might consider it this year.

FauxNom · 10-19-2009, 08:56 PM

My D found several colleges that she liked that happened to be DIII LACs or smaller UAA uni's. She didn't want D-I soccer, but thought D-III would be good. Because she had other commitments that conflicted with going to a bunch of big showcases during junior year and summer after, it seemed like it would be impossible to get a coach interested, but we found that wasn't the case. We made a very amateurish video (didn't want to spend the $$ on a pro) of her playing at a local showcase, and sent it out to maybe 6 coaches in July before senior year. All responded, and all were either encouraging (seeking a chance to see her play in person) or very favorable (checking references and inviting her to visit the college). She quickly narrowed the field, did a visit, and is now going to apply ED, with the coach's support, at her favorite - her dream school for the past few years, in fact.

I guess she looked really good in the film, but her high test scores probably were a very important factor. I think a coach who sees a good player with excellent academic credentials feels pretty lucky to have found an athlete who is so easily admissible. She can be reasonably assured of getting the player through admissions, especially if she can persuade her to apply ED, and then can keep moving down her recruit list.

So my advice to those with time left to strategize: get the testing underway during junior year, and perform well! If you can't get to showcases, don't give up on the process. Camps can work, but if you can't do that, just make a film and give it a go.

Regarding tournaments: Our personal experience, being on a club team with some terrific players who were constantly contacting coaches, was that very few coaches showed up at showcase games until the summer before junior year. The exception would be for the true phenom kids who are attracting attention as freshmen and sophomores. They end up commiting to D-I schools, as far as I can tell. But D-III recruiting goes at a slower pace. My D didn't even bother to contact a coach - ever - before a showcase, because she didn't see colleges that were "on her list." She did receive a fair amount of unsolicited contact the summer before senior year. Had she been able to do some of the big showcases junior year and summer, that would have been a great way to be seen by the UAA coaches, such as those from Chicago and WUSTL. Those guys take their soccer pretty seriously, considering the high academic level of their institutions.

illinoisdad · 10-20-2009, 10:35 AM

Thank you for all the great responses and information. This is all very helpful.

Please keep the responses and experiences coming!

lepages · 10-23-2009, 11:04 AM

My daughter is a junior this year and I thought that I would share our experience so far. Sophomore year her team did a few big tournaments and she emailed a bunch of coaches. She got a lot of responses but very few came out to see her play. We spoke to her club coach who also is also college coach and he said that most recruiting is done junior year. The exception of course would be those top players who are maybe on national or regional ODP teams. (Not my daughter!) He did say that it's never too early to start emailing and that you really need to be aggressive in your search.