South Lakes Carolina German signs with Warner

from orlandosentinel.com

GROVELAND – If any more South Lake girls soccer players get an opportunity to play in college, maybe they should send a “thank-you card” to Carolina German, who will become the first Eagles player to play for a college program in more than a decade.

German, a senior who played both as a defender and forward for the Eagles, signed a soccer grant on Wednesday with Warner University. The signing took place in the media center at the high school.

“I am extremely excited to sign and be able to continue playing soccer,” German said. “I have been playing soccer since I was 6 or 7 years old and this will allow me to continue to progress.”

According to South Lake Coach Steve Green, German will become the first girls soccer player from South Lake to play with a college program since Jennie Staab played at the University of North Florida. Staab, a 1998 South Lake graduate, played as a walk-on for the Ospreys as a freshman.

“She [German] is a very powerful player,” said Green who coaches her at the high school and on the South Lake Soccer Club team at the National Training Center in Clermont. “The strength in her body alone is remarkable. She holds the ball up very well. She has a great foot on her, great power and good speed. She reads the game very well and distributes the ball really well..”

German, who has played both as a defender and as a forward in high school, has scored more than 30 goals through her four years at South Lake, moving there from Burlington, N.J. She also was being recruited by Milligan College in Johnson City, Tn., and a couple of out-of-state community colleges.

Warner already has signed a couple of athletes from South Lake, including softball players Kacy Boykin and Kaitlyn Wilbanks. German said the fact that she already knows a couple of sathletes who will be attending the school in Lake Wales made the choice an easy one.

“I have met the whole team and I have been down there twice so I am getting to know the area,” she said. “Plus I also know people who will be going to school there, so that will make it nice.”

Green said German’s sighing could open the door for other soccer players from South Lake to head to college.

“This will put us on the map,” Green said. “We have a bunch of players who could sign over the next couple of years. We have a lot of great talent that will be in the same class [skill level] as Carolina by the time they finish up here. A lot of our players have not gotten the kind of exposure that players do at bigger schools, but now that we are moving up a couple of [size] classifications [from 4A to 6A], that will change.

“Carolina’s signing will be a good eye-opener for us.”