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Sports Oakville Beaver 17 · Wednesday, February 8, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012 17 HEADING SOUTH: Pictured left to right, Oakville Soccer Club players Alex Abrahams, Lia Foster, Crystal Elmers, Kassidy Kidd, Elysia Masters, Julia Lombardi and Lauren Swant sign their acceptance letters to NCAA schools. The seven players, along with Jade Kovacevic (not present for photo), will play NCAA soccer next season, and Rebecca Pongetti will suit up for Louisiana State the following year. STEVEN DER-GARABEDIAN / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Nine OSC products commit to NCAA soccer teams the fall. Another, Rebecca Pongetti (Louisiana State), will follow a year later. "It still doesn't feel real," Lombardi said, who plans to Julia Lombardi had never really considered the possibility major in exercise science. She had some valuable insight that helped her finalize her of earning a soccer scholarship. For much of her life, soccer wasn't even her favourite choice of school. The sister of her former teammate Angela sport. Like many Canadians, she was born with DNA that Cutaia, Cara, plays at Eastern Michigan. "That was a great resource to have," Lombardi said. "I predisposed her to wearing skates and chasing pucks. She knew she would tell me what it was really like." loved hockey and played rep with the Oakville Hornets. Unlike Lombardi, a soccer scholarship has long been the Then, three years ago, she changed her position. goal of Abrahams. She's been playing for Oakville Lombardi had always been a midfielder on the teams for 14 years, nine of them with the same soccer pitch but during the 2008 season she "It still doesn't group of 1994-born players. moved back to defender. It changed her entire feel real." The Maine-bound centre back said many facoutlook on the sport, literally and figuratively. tors weighed into her decision -- the campus, "I loved to move up into the play," said the two- Eastern Michigan the education program, the quality of the team time athlete of the year at Abbey Park. "At mid- University-bound and having a former member of the Canadian field, a lot of the time you have your back turned soccer player Julia women's soccer team, Linda Hathorn, as an assisto the play. At defender, you see everything in Lombardi tant coach -- all helped her choose to sign with front of you." Soccer soon supplanted hockey as her number one sport. the Black Bears. "It all fell into place," said the White Oaks student, who Three years later, Lombardi found herself at the head of the room at the Oakville Soccer Club (OSC) signing a national will major in journalism. Abrahams, who played on provincial U14, U15 and U16 letter of intent to play for Eastern Michigan University in teams, said it is a relief to have her schooling settled. front of family, friends, coaches and teammates. "It's been a whirlwind," she said of the recruiting process. Lombardi wasn't alone at the signing table, though. Seven of her Oakville under-18 teammates -- Alex Abrahams and "It's strange to think that I'll be packing up and moving in six Lauren Swant (Maine), Elysia Masters (University of months." She won't be going alone. Swant, who has played her Memphis), Jade Kovacevic (Louisiana State), Crystal Elmers (Liberty University), Lia Foster (Marshall) and Kassidy Kidd entire career with the Oakville Soccer Club, will be joining (University of Buffalo) -- will join her in the NCAA ranks in her. By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF "It was kind of funny, we've played together since under11 or under-12. We're good friends," said the Holy Trinity student, "but I decided on Maine without knowing she had already committed." Swant started out playing goal the same way many keepers do. She tried it in house league, enjoyed it and then was encouraged by teammates to stick with it. "I enjoy the competitiveness," she said. "I like, if they get by everyone else, being the last one to stop a shot or save a game." And she's done that very well. She helped the Oakville Titans reach the Ontario Cup final in 2007 and led Ontario to a gold medal at the 2010 national championships, earning the tournament's top goalkeeper honours. Masters, an honour student at Nelson High School in Burlington, didn't believe a scholarship was in her future but started to attract attention in the last couple of years. She ended up landing with the University of Memphis, a Top 10-ranked NCAA team. "It really came out of nowhere," she said. "I had no dream of taking soccer to the next level. Then you get that first offer and it's exciting. You get that and you think, `This is actually real.'" Elmers was one of the top 10 scorers in the Ontario Youth Soccer League last year. The midfielder led Smithville District Christian School to an OFSAA silver medal. Foster, a right back, played on the provincial team for three years and won an Ontario Cup with Ajax in 1993. She also helped her club team reach the U16 national final in See Scholarships, page 19