Junior Tarah Phongsavath recently verbally committed to Missouri State University to play soccer. Phongsavath has been perspective of Missouri State for several years.

“My sister goes there, and I’ve visited the campus three or four times. I went to a camp there, and I’ve been with the soccer team a couple times and I’ve seen them practice,” Phongsavath said.

While Phongsavath has committed to MSU, it isn’t official until she signs paperwork with the university.

“It’s like a verbal commitment. It’s not 100 percent for sure. She has to sign to follow through with that,” said girls’ assistant soccer coach Melissa Stone. “So, by committing, she’s telling the coach that she will be applying there in the future.”

Phongsavath was excited and relieved to commit to a university for soccer so early.

“I’ve been working to commit for about a year and a half. It’s hard, it’s a long process. You have to choose the right school and what’s best fit for you,” Phongsavath said. “Once I did commit, it was just a relief … once I found that fit, it just felt great.”

Stone and the rest of the team are all very excited for Phongsavath and her future at MSU.

“I think it’s awesome. She’s done a lot of research there. She’s met the coach, she’s met the team, and it’s just a great fit for her. I’m very excited and very proud of her,” Stone said.

Phongsavath has several reasons to be excited for her future in collegiate level soccer and college in general.

“They’re like a family there. I feel like it’s the perfect fit for me. It’s the size that I want and the class sizes I want,” Phongsavath said. “I hope to room with [my sister] at some point … it will be awesome.”

Phongsavath’s coaches at DHS hope she continues to pursue soccer and think she will do big things with the MSU team.

“I hope that she keeps the passion that she has for soccer right now because she’s an incredible athlete and student. I think that she can really benefit from being on the soccer team and just learn things on and off the field from being with them,” Stone said. “I also [hope she] keeps in touch with me because I’m going to miss her. I think she’s going to be a great addition to the team.”

Before she moves on to collegiate level soccer, Phongsavath hopes to claim a State title with the DHS team.

“We’re going to win State [this year]. We’re amazing … yeah, we’re going to win State,” Phongsavath said.

Stone agrees, as the team has several strong new and returning players.

“Our team is solid. We are awesome, and we were so close last year,” Stone said. “We have a lot of returning players and a lot of new freshmen so we’re kind of set. I want the juniors and seniors to set the foundation for the expectation for the team so that the under classmen can see what’s expected of them on the team.”

Phongsavath is looking forward to the next two seasons she has at DHS and her future at MSU.