Merced County girls soccer star to play close to home. Here’s where she’ll attend college
The opportunity to stay close to home and play collegiate soccer was too good to pass up for Golden Valley senior Haylee Heffner.
The Cougars star recently celebrated her signing her national letter of intent to play soccer at UC Merced with family, friends and coaches.
“It felt like such a relief,” Heffner said. “It was like all the stress was lifted off my chest. I was so happy it worked out so well.”
Heffner called the recruiting process stressful. The addition of trying to pick a college during a coronavirus pandemic didn’t make things easier.
“It was very stressful,” Heffner said. “It was the wait time, waiting for schools to decide if they were going to offer. We had tournaments canceled. College coaches couldn’t watch us play live, so they had to recruit off of video. I’m just glad it all worked out.”
Heffner says she didn’t feel she was ready to go far away to school, so the option of playing at UC Merced was perfect for her. She loves the campus, coaches and her future teammates.
“Ever since I was little I wanted to play college soccer,” said Heffner, who called the opportunity a dream come true.
Heffner was a four-year varsity player at Golden Valley. She was a second-team all-Central California Conference selection as a freshman and a first-team pick the past two years.
“Haylee has a field awareness that is incredible,” Golden Valley coach Ashley Faraone said. “I don’t know how she get through some players sometimes. She just knows where to be. If they play her at middle, she’ll be a dynamic player.”
Heffner compiled a 4.2 GPA and plans to major in biomedical science.
She’s the second Golden Valley girls soccer player to sign with UC Merced this year. She’ll join goalkeeper Jadyn Gong with the Bobcats.
“It’s going to be fun playing together again,” Heffner said.
Faraone says it will be special to watch two of her former players playing at the next level together.
“I’m super excited that they both will be playing in our backyard,” Faraone said. “I can’t wait to take our girls to watch them play and see them develop. To be able to continue to cheer them on and support them is really special.”
