By D.J. Glazer
Bayside’s D.J. Glazer, the city’s leading goal scorer last season, takes us inside her world as one of the area’s top girls’ soccer players in her exclusive biweekly diary for timesledger.com. She and the Commodores will look to build off their PSAL Class A semifinals berth last season and challenge for a city title.
Ever since I was younger, my dream was to play soccer at the Division I level. Finally, after years of hard work, this dream has come true. After my official visit Sept. 22, I verbally committed to Coach Katherine Lyn and Marist, the defending MAAC Champions and NCAA tournament qualifier.
The college recruiting process has certainly been an experience I will never forget. With every school I would speak to, the already difficult process would become even more difficult. In order to chase my dream, I sent dozens of e-mails to coaches before every travel soccer tournament. Knowing that not every coach would reply nor come to my games made the process even harder to deal with.
All I could do was wish that at least one coach would open my e-mail and give me a chance to demonstrate my skills. Luckily for me, I heard from many fine coaches and schools, but it wasn’t until the 2012 Las Vegas College Showcase held this past March that the focus of my attention would start to become clearer because that’s when Marist saw me play for the first time.
From that moment on, it became immediately apparent that Marist’s interest in me was genuine. Likewise, my interest in it escalated to the point that I knew instantly that this was the school for me.
In order to get a better feeling for the school, I attended a few of its games and took an unofficial visit during my junior year. Seeing the school for the first time, I thought it was perfect and couldn’t get any better. As soon as I stepped on the campus, I knew this was the school I wanted to attend. So when I took my official visit, everything I thought previously was immediately confirmed. I couldn’t have been happier.
I got to hang out with the players on the team, attend their “Pink Out” game against Binghamton — a 2-0 win — and then stay with the girls overnight. The whole time I was there I felt welcomed and right at home. Just seeing how happy they were and how much fun they had being with each other made my decision final.
With my family and friends supporting my every move, making the decision to commit to Marist was easy. As soon as the moment happened, I told my family, friends, teammates and coaches. Everyone was just as ecstatic for me as I was for myself. I knew where I was going to go to school, and it was the best decision I ever made.
I feel a similar closeness with my Bayside teammates, one that is growing as the season progresses. Last week, we played our first home game against Arts & Business, winning 7-0, and topped Bryant, while I was on my official visit to Marist, 2-1. We also played rival Cardozo and picked up an important 5-0 shut-out, in which I scored three of my eight goals for the week.
Coming away with these great wins has our confidence high and capped one of the most exciting weeks of my life.
