El Capitan soccer star sent out emails, videos to coaches to make college dream happen
When Haley Espinoza saw some of her travel soccer teammates signing with schools like UCLA and Stanford, the El Capitan senior knew she had to come out of her shell.
The usually shy Espinoza, had to come out of her comfort zone if she wanted to realize her dream of playing college soccer.
“I felt I was just as good as these other girls,” Espinoza said. “That’s when it clicked that I need to put in the work and I want to play (Division-I). I had to put in an effort.”
Espinoza had to start acting as her own sports agent, selling herself to potential college coaches by sending out countless emails and sending out highlight videos.
Every day she sent out emails to college coaches.
All her work paid off as she drew interest from many schools, including UC Davis, Howard and Sacramento State.
Espinoza recently made her college choice official by signing her national letter of intent to play soccer at Fresno State.
“It’s very exciting,” Espinoza said. “I feel very blessed to be able to commit during this time. It seems crazy to me. I’m very thankful for my high school coaches, competitive coaches, my teammates and my parents.”
COVID-19 impact on recruiting
Espinoza wasn’t sure her dream of playing college soccer would become a reality. The COVID-19 pandemic had halted all high school and competitive travel soccer so it prevented Espinoza from playing in front of college coaches.
Unable to let her play do her talking, Espinoza went to work contacting coaches and sending out highlight videos. Espinoza edited her own highlight video that she sent out.
Espinoza says it was stressful and she hated to think she wouldn’t get an opportunity to realize her goal of playing college soccer.
“It was very hard,” she said. “I don’t like attention on me. I don’t like putting myself out there. It’s difficult because you don’t have your parents right next to you, telling you what to say. You have to talk on the phone to people you’ve never met and tell them everything about you, about soccer, about your future, about everything.”
A perfect fit
Soon college coaches began showing interest and Fresno State made its way to the top of the list.
Espinoza already knew a couple players on the Fresno State team and felt a connection with the Bulldogs coaching staff.
“I had teammates that I had already played with at Fresno and that was a really big factor,” Espinoza said. “I’m very shy so having teammates there helped. I really liked the head coach (Brian Zwaschka), I liked the campus and I watched a lot of film of Fresno State and I think I’d be a perfect fit.”
Espinoza finished second on the Gauchos last season with 14 goals and was selected to the all-Central California Conference first-team.
Espinoza, who has a 4.05 GPA at El Capitan, plans to major in kinesiology, with the plans of becoming a PE teacher for middle school or high school in the future.
“I feel extremely fortunate and very thankful to be able to commit during this time,” Espinoza said. It’s been a long road for me because I didn’t start playing soccer at young age like many girls. I started late. To start playing at 14 and get to this point, with an opportunity to play D-1, I’m very excited.”
