In prospective soccer players, St. Francis coach Christy Young said she looks for team-first student-athletes giving their all every day in search of an amazing experience.
Young has found a couple of those players here in Columbus. The most recent, Columbus East senior Sarah Park, signed with the Cougars in a ceremony on Wednesday.
"All of those four things that we are constantly in search of, Sarah in our mind had all four of them," Young said. "We’re excited to see her development, and I’m excited to coach her and see where we go here in the future."
Park is coming off her best season with the Olympians. She finished second on the team with 11 goals and tied for the team lead with nine assists.
The forward helped lead East to a 15-3 record and a Hoosier Hills Conference championship.
"She has an excellent attitude, great soccer skills," East coach Ilya Schwartzman said. "Her effort is tremendous, and I think St. Francis is getting an incredible student-athlete."
Park said she also had looked at Franklin College and University of Indianapolis. She plans to major in nursing at St. Francis.
"I just really liked the school itself, and then when I finally got to meet the team, the team environment was very open and friendly and welcoming," Park said. "The really good school and campus and the environment of the team kind of sold me."
Park, who also plays basketball for the Olympians, said she always has leaned toward playing soccer at the collegiate level. She made her verbal commitment to the Cougars over the summer.
That, she said, helped her senior soccer season go as smooth as it did.
"It definitely was a different feeling than I had in the past," Park said. "I still wanted to do my best at everything, but I kind of knew what was going to be happening in the future, so I didn’t have to stress about that."
Park will join Columbus North graduate Marina Hughes, who recently finished her sophomore year at St. Francis. The Cougars went 5-9-4 this season.
Young is looking forward to working with Park.
"Sarah came to our ID camp, and one of the things when she was training, she was probably the one out there that was working the hardest, had the most effort and was a player that we felt had the attitude that could be somebody that would learn and grow and would be growth minded," Young said.
