Different perspective here - based on your opening comments re: prioritizing academics over athletics and that your athlete/family isn’t looking to leverage their sport to get $ (athletic or merit-as-proxy for an athletic scholarship for D3 or D1 Ivies, I’d strongly consider removing the soccer out of the equation altogether at this point.
Don’t get me wrong - D1 programs are absolutely looking at freshmen and sophomores this season for roster spots 2 and 3 years out; but unless your daughter is a DA or ECNL player (possibly NPL), the chances of her being identified as a prospective varsity player for them is remote. NO reflection on your player or any other who isn’t in one of those programs (not every family lives in close proximity to an ECNL club or has the means for the travel, club fees that entails) but the reality is those tournaments are where 80% of D1 recruits are identified. In short - if she’s truly a D1-quality prospect, they will find her.
I was fortunate enough to have a great discussion with a D1 Women’s HC from an ACC program two years ago at an ID camp and he shared some amazing and frank info with the parents there, including:
- I’m recruiting players for this year besides you for the same position and even if you end up playing for me, the reality is that I’m going to spend every spare moment of the offseason trying to find ten more recruits to take your spot
- never, ever, ever choose a school on your sport alone. Every year there are injuries and players on this year’s team will be cut. Ask yourself: if you can’t play varsity soccer at this school, will you stay for 4 years? If you just like it with soccer, you may hate it without.
That said - D3 and even D2 recruitment is a different animal. There are some excellent & academically strong D3 programs (notably NESCAC schools) where a strong transcript take at least some preference over pure athletic consideration.
Lastly - don’t overlook the club college option…there are thousands of very good players who didn’t end up playing D1 varsity for various reasons, but want to continue playing a sport they love at a level above intramural in college. These clubs travel and compete within their school’s conferece and in tournaments; continuing to play the sport they love but without the time commitment of varsity.
Ultimately it will come down to how important your daughters sport is in her overall college experience. For our Junior player, she has ultimately decided that she’d rather go to a school she loved (and likely wasn’t good enough to play at)/saw herself at for 4 years vs attending a school she otherwise wouldn’t have ever considered going to simply because they recruited her. Also - and speaking as the father of teenage daughters - what they think they want as a Freshman will almost certainly change by the time it’s time to choose a college.
Good luck to your daughter in her process!