RECRUITING: Arbor View’s Olson leads several soccer signees
Arbor View senior Dakota Olson fell in love with Charlotte, N.C., even before she visited the UNC-Charlotte campus.
Playing soccer for the 49ers, too? That’s a bonus she doesn’t mind, either.
“We went there for a tournament, and I liked it there,” said Olson, who plans to enter Charlotte’s pre-medicine program. “They offered me (a scholarship) late ... but it was pretty much the only school that I really liked that’s offered me anything. It’s really pretty; I liked the atmosphere. And the girls are really nice — pretty competitive, too.
“I didn’t see the school (on the first trip) — just south Charlotte — but when I went to the school, I liked it, too.”
Olson signed her national letter of intent Wednesday, and Aggies goalkeeper Alex Luevano-Hardin signed with Akron. Arbor View also boasts NAIA-bound Ashlie Nation, who will spend her college career at Eastern Oregon.
“We have good players in the program, but those (players) will be hard to replace,” Arbor View coach Jay Howard said. “It’ll be a little lonely without them. Every year you have seniors who are special to you, but we have these who started the second year of the school, and they have really advanced the program each year. We’ve been pretty close all three years now.”
Other Southern Nevada girls soccer players expected to sign during the period that began Wednesday include Bishop Gorman’s Courtney Beckwith (North Dakota), Alyssa Campagna (Seattle), Megan Wasiak (Stephen F. Austin) and Amanda Kaufman (UNLV); Centennial’s Jordyn Rolling (Virginia Commonwealth); Green Valley’s Kaylynn Burgess (North Dakota); and Faith Lutheran’s Maddy Courvoisier (Texas Christian).
Olson has been a midfield presence all four years for the Aggies, and had five goals and 12 assists this season.
“She’s a very gifted athlete,” Howard said. “I think she’ll be used in college all over (the field). I have a feeling the best hasn’t been seen out of her yet, as good as she is.”
The future 49er hopes that’s true, in high school and college.
“I want to win state my senior year,” Olson said. “ We have a lot of different variety (this year), and we’re a bigger team. I think we can do it.”
Luevano-Hardin held down the starting goalie job since the third match of her freshmen year, and looks to contribute quickly for Akron, the Mid-American Conference runner-up.
“I think I can be a great leader coming in as a freshman, even though I know I’ll be younger,” she said. “I still think I can come in, be a leader, and show people I’m good enough to play (in Division I). I know that I’m good enough to play, so I’m going to come in confident.”
Luevano-Hardin posted at least 10 shutouts in each of her first three seasons, and appears headed toward a fourth with eight shutouts and 28 saves this season.
“That’s what I love to do. I want to grow as a player, and I know that college and D-I soccer is going to help me get to what I want to be,” said Luevano-Hardin, who plans to major in nursing. “College is the best time of your life, I hear, so I’m excited.”
Nation will bring a solid presence to the Eastern Oregon backline.
“She is a fabulous one-on-one defender,” Howard said. “This year, when she’s playing, we wondered what would’ve been if she had been able to play every year and not been lost to (injury for) parts of the season.
“In college she’ll fit right in as an outside defender and be good from day one.”
