Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club is proud to introduce the CRYSC College Commitment Class of 2020! Congratulations to the 64 players that have signed to play with colleges around the nation this fall!

“On behalf of the entire Rapids community, the Club would like to congratulate our players for officially taking the next step in their academic and athletic careers,” CRYSC College Placement Program Director, Anthony Presnell, stated.

“We are so proud of these players – 89% of which have been with the Club for over three years, 82% for over four years, and 79% for over five. The hard work, dedication, and commitment that they have shown has been rewarded with the opportunity to compete at the collegiate level. As a Club, we pride ourselves on providing a pathway for committed players within all of our programs to play at the next level. It is a credit to everyone connected with Rapids Youth Soccer that these commitments come from all regions and levels at the Club. We wish these players the best of luck and look forward to seeing them grow at the collegiate level.”

Meet the CRYSC Class of 2020:

Thirteen players from the Class of 2020 are headed to programs that competed in the 2019 National Tournament. Nicholas Graziano (02B ECNL), Sydney Jones (02G Central), Ellie Sommers (02G South), Lucy Roberts (02G South), Kailey Seymour (02G South) will all look to improve their team’s run in next year’s Division I Tournament. Teagan Marshall (02G West) is the lone player joining a Division II Tournament team, while Rylan Lee (02G Castle Rock), Phoebe Garfield (02G Central), Lauren Walter (02G ECNL), and Jackson Thelin (02B ECNL) will be anticipating another successful season and tournament bid at the Division III level. Hastings College commits Alex Jacobs (02G Central) and Dekota Shubert (02G North), along with Northeastern Junior College commit Alexa Walzak (02G North), set to join teams that found success in last year’s NJCAA National Tournament.

Eighteen players will link up with a fellow members of the Class of 2020 as teammates in the fall of 2020, including a trio of commits to the St Olaf (Casey McCloskey 02B ECNL, Ian Elliot 02B ECNL, Logan Camacho 02B South), and another trio to Fort Hays State University (Taylor Harr 02G South, Shelby Talley 02G South, Ryan McCabe 02G South). Pairs of players will be headed to Stetson University (Kylie Barrick 02G Fort Collins, Ashleigh Wise 02G ECNL), Colorado Christian (Kiana Fen 02G North, Randy Soetja 02B Central), Regis University (Sophia Leone 02G ECNL Emma Longbrake, 02G West), Colorado Mesa University (Joey Joiner 02B ECNL Tatum Pfalmer 02G South), with others heading to Northeast Community College and Hastings College.

Seven Time National Champion Yavapai College (Chris Corn 02B ECNL) and first year program Casper College (Austin Heber 02B South) join our growing list of two-year options for CRYSC players! Northeastern JC picks up two players including (Kaleb Ramos 02B Central), while Otero JC (Brooke Miller 02G Central) and Northeast Community College (Brianna Mendias 02G West) each picked up one, both adding to rosters that already include several members of our 2019 Class.

Other programs looking at Rapids 2020 commits to help make an impact in the Fall are Division III programs Illinois Tech (Jayla Anaya 02G North), Lake Forest College (Ashley Brinesser 02G West), Biola University (Kiana Kimmel 02G South Burgundy), Aurora University (Maddie Segrist 01 CR Select), Carthage College (Chloe Urbanski 01 CR Select), University of St Thomas (Evan Stearns 02B ECNL) and Chapman University (Cody Wellington 02B South). Amongst the other Division III commitments are two players who will be joining CRYSC Alumni at their program this fall. Central College (Paige Cahill 02G CR), Redlands University (Seth Lawrence 02B ECNL).

Schools like Minnesota State Moorehead (Mason Kimble 02G West), Drury (Halley Kremmer 02G West), University of Sioux Falls (Sarah Miller 02G Castle Rock) and Central Washington (Lily Newberry 02G South) look to build a pipeline between the Rapids Youth Club and their Division II programs, while Northwestern College (Jonas Tiensvold 02B North) looks to build at the Division III level. Other out of state programs; Cal Poly (Georgia Weeks 02G ECNL), Utah (McKenna Baillie 02G ECNL), Oregon (Brynn Boeyink 02G ECNL), and Pepperdine (Ellie Sommers 02G South) will take players further west. While others; Dartmouth (Aspen Anderson 02G ECNL), Cornell (Ava Laden 02G ECNL), UNC-Wilmington (Bryce Loui 02B ECNL/DA), East Carolina (Ashlynn Lutz 02G ECNL), Auburn (Mallory Mooney 02G ECNL), Troy University (Brooke Essegian 02G ECNL), and Vaparaiso (Hannah Mares 02G ECNL) will head East. Several players have chosen to attend programs that will keep them in the Rocky Mountain Region including, North Dakota (Abigale Ellenberger 02G ECNL), Wyoming (Ellie Johnston 02G ECNL), Creighton (Madison Radke 02G ECNL), York College (Ethan Harkless 02B Fort Collins), and Johnson and Wales (Nathan Robinson 02B Central). Both Jack Cichuniec (02B Central) and Gregory Squire (02B Central) will be looking at the University Abroad opportunity to play soccer at the next level.

The College Soccer page on the CRYSC website offers a great starting point for parents and players interested in college soccer. For more information, visit our webpage here. For any questions or concerns, please contact CRYSC’s College Placement Director at [email protected]