Kirsten Crane may have been 3,000 miles away, yet she experienced every minute of the UCLA women’s soccer team’s dramatic comeback victory over North Carolina in last week’s NCAA Division I championship game in Cary, North Carolina, like she was sitting on the sidelines.
”It was a nailbiter for sure,” said Crane, who watched the game, which UCLA won 3-2 in overtime after trailing 2-0 with 15 minutes remaining, on television from her Marysville home. “My mom was crying, that was funny. It was a really good game to watch.”
And why wouldn’t Crane have felt each shot, cross and tackle as if she was on the field? This time next year she may just find herself right in the middle of the fray.
Crane is joining the Bruins next season, meaning the Marysville Getchell High School senior will be at the very top of the college hierarchy, playing for a program that harbors national championship aspirations.
“It was so surreal,” Crane said about watching her future team win the national title. “I feel like it really demonstrates the heart that the team plays with and the passion they have for the sport. It was so awesome to see them play for each other and see the reactions they had to winning and scoring. Even if someone made a mistake they were all very nice to each other and encouraging. It’s crazy to me that I’m blessed to be a part of it next year.”
Crane may not be the most-visible high school player from the area. She played her first two years at Marysville Getchell, leading the Chargers to the Class 3A state tournament in 2019 as a freshman. But she’s spent the past two years playing for Crossfire Premier, the Redmond-based elite club that requires a full-time commitment, meaning she hasn’t played for Marysville Getchell since the coronavirus-shortened 2020-21 season. She’s currently deployed as an attacking midfielder or box-to-box midfielder for Crossfire’s Elite Clubs National League under-19 team.
So how does a player from Marysville get recruited by a powerhouse program from southern California? Especially considering just one of the 31 players on UCLA’s 2022 roster hails from Washington? Well, most top colleges recruit from the elite clubs these days, and it was the Crossfire staff’s connection with UCLA coach Margueritte Aozasa that got the ball rolling.
“When I first took over UCLA (Crossfire’s coaches) reached out and said they had a player who’d flown under the radar who was worth looking at,” said Aozasa, who won the national title in her first season in charge of the Bruins.
“What I noticed about her was her incredible athleticism and pace,” Aozasa added about why she deemed Crane a player worth pursuing. “She moves around the field so effortlessly. And she’s also very versatile. She can play anywhere along the front line, in midfield, even at outside back if needed. She has a very good understanding of the game, any time she wins balls she always knows the outlet. Because of her pace and ability to run at players, I think she can be dangerous at the college level.”
When Aozasa first began recruiting Crane, she had no way of knowing how perfect the match would be. UCLA has been Crane’s dream school since she was a grade schooler. Other top west-coast programs like Washington and Santa Clara also recruited Crane, but when UCLA came calling it was all over.
“I think it was fourth grade,” Crane explained about why UCLA was he favorite. “It was actually for basketball. I had a pair of UCLA basketball shorts, and I really wanted to go there. It’s funny because I don’t even play basketball anymore.”
Crane received her scholarship offer in June. After getting approval from her parents — on her dad’s birthday she was told to open one of the presents, and it was a pair of UCLA-colored shoes for her, signaling her parents’ consent — she committed the next day. She officially signed with the Bruins in November.
Crane heads to UCLA in August, but how soon will it be before she begins seeing meaningful minutes? After all, not only are the Bruins the national champions, they had the top recruiting class in the nation last year.
“One of the things that stood out to me about the coaches is that while a lot of people will say to get ready to not play as a freshman, the UCLA coaches told me that the freshmen they bring in are there to challenge the seniors and upperclassmen,” Crane said. “If you look at the minutes, they play a lot of freshmen. That levels the playing field, which I think can be rare in college, especially at that level. I think what they’re expecting from me is to bring what I can and not be intimidated by the upperclassmen, to show my all and challenge them.”
Aozasa reinforced the idea that Crane could play early.
“It will depend on how well she comes in and adjusts to our environment, as well as if she’s willing to play a little out of position so she can get on the field,” Aozasa said. “But what she has in her pace and her very natural understanding and feel for the game, she’ll be positioned well to play next year.”
And if everything goes right for Crane and the Bruins, then she’ll be playing in that national championship game instead of watching it.
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