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Mooney’s Harris signs with Lafayette, Vazquez will join brother at Pitt
Harris signs with Lafayette, Vazquez will join brother at Pitt
By Ryan Buck
YOUNGSTOWN
A pair of Cardinal Mooney soccer standouts signed their letters of intent to attend Division I institutions in the fall Wednesday.
Myles Harris, a two-time All-Ohio selection, will be attending Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. The senior defender scored nine goals and registered eight assists for Mooney’s perennially strong program last fall and was a four-year starter for the varsity squad.
Harris was sold on the campus and the coaching staff after receiving interest from Lafayette, of the Patriot League, over a year ago.
Harris traveled with his club soccer team, Challenger Crew, of Cleveland, to a tournament in Virginia and caught their eye.
“Right after the tournament they contacted me and invited me to several camps and that’s how it all started,” Harris said.
The speedy defender looks to play outside back for the Leopards, after contributing all over the field for Mooney and in the center back role for his club team.
“I’m really excited about it,” Harris said. “I’ll have to adapt to that, but I’m good at that though with changes in faces and style.”
Juliana Vazquez will be joining Harris in the Keystone State, but a little closer to home.
Vazquez, who scored 60 goals as a senior last fall to lead all goal-scorers, signed her letter-of- intent to the University of Pittsburgh.
Wednesday’s signing was a long time coming as the prolific goal-scorer, who has played in places as far away as Russia with a U.S. Soccer Olympic Developmental Program, has been planning to attend Pittsburgh for two years.
“I’m somewhat relieved to be finally committed,” she said. “It’s an amazing school and I’m very excited. It’s a great conference [Atlantic Coast], best in the country. It’s close to home so my parents can come see me play. My brother goes there and I love the coaching staff.”
Vazquez’ older brother, Boo, plays baseball for the Panthers. She was already very comfortable with her future home and now is focused on her role as a student-athlete.
“Lots of fitness, strength training physically for the soccer part,” she said, “and there’s lots of resources for student-athletes so I’m definitely going to take advantage of that.”
Several other athletes made their commitments official on Wednesday. Boardman distance runner Jordan Grantonic (Youngstown State) and swimmer Brooke Bailey (Air Force) and Howland track and cross country runner Taylor Craigo (Marshall) signed letters of intent.
Earlier, Warren JFK hurdler Chad Zallow signed with YSU. Other early commitments included Canfield’s Jessica Jones (Penn State, gymnastics), Champion’s Alexandra Stein (Tennessee-Martin, equestian), Howland’s Hannah Burke (West Virginia Tech, softball), Aimee Gysegem (Nova Southeastern, swimming), David-Brian Whisler (Maryland, wrestling), LaBrae’s Haylee Harford (Furman, golf) and Mathews’ Cheyenne Egggens (South Florida, softball).
Canfield soccer player Sophia Mancini plans to sign with the YSU women’s soccer program today.