HARLINGEN — Ever since Leah Leal was 10 years old she knew she wanted to play college soccer. She wasn’t worried about specifics at the time, but she knew it was something she wanted to do.
Fast-forward eight years and the time arrived for Leal, who signed a letter of intent Wednesday to play soccer for the University of Texas at San Antonio next fall.
“This is a big day because I feel like I actually accomplished one of my goals in life,” said a jovial Leal. “I have been playing soccer since I was 3 or 4 but I never knew if I wanted to continue playing into the college level until I was 10 or 11, and then around that age I decided I wanted to play Division I soccer so that was my main goal.”
UTSA, which competes in Conference USA, went 3-14 and 2-18 in league play in 2017. However, with a cast of new recruits on the way, including Leal, UTSA is hoping to turn things around this year.
Despite the university’s DI designation, for Leal, UTSA stood out where other offers did not.
“I had been around the campus a lot because my aunt and uncle are alumni and it had my major. I have family in the area and I love the girls, the coach and everything about it,” said Leal. “The commitment process was hard because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play DI soccer, but once I finally committed it was a huge relief, and it removed a lot of stress off me.”
Harlingen High head coach Debra Hernandez agrees that it was not a question of if she would play, but more of where.
“Leah is a great midfielder that controls the game,” said Hernandez. “I told her the momentum she plays with is what the girls feed off of. She is also very versatile and can help out wherever she’s needed.
“It was never in question if she would play college soccer, it was just a matter of her deciding where and I’m really glad that it was UTSA.”
