for girls soccer what I’ve said is accurate for parents reading. anyone who’s familiar with girls and boys knows that 9th grade girls often look a lot like woman whereas 9th grade boys are usually a couple years away from filling out and stopped growth. this is a law of nature and why girls recruiting is earlier. It’s not really talent difference it’s physical maturation.
the early verbal “offers to commit to the process” generally do work out to Ivies for girls soccer ~90% of the time. Parents/kids that don’t want the stress of hitting a 30ACT can commit early to a different great academic school with big time D1 football that due to title 9 can’t really require a super high score for only their female recruited athletes: vanderbilt, duke, notre dame, UNC etc… And I’ve seen a kid not pursue ivies exactly for that reason. The legal tender of girls committing to the process to UNC in 9th grade is no different than the legal value of a commitment to the process to princeton in 9th grade. They are trusting coaches support will be there years in the future and they get through admissions and told academic do’s and don’ts. There’s nothing magical about Ivy vs non-Ivy D1 early commitments, except no merit/athletic scholarships and Ivies have an extra piece of paper in a likely letter.
@recruitparent correct it is not unique to girls soccer; however, I am careful to claim I know how girls soccer recruiting works. It is likely true for other girls sports so much so that softball and lacrosse have changed their rules to try to stop it, soccer has had no such rule change except timing of official visits which are irrelevant for top 100 D1 schools. Kids typically visit the campuses through a “camp” open to all.