EDMONDS – With her friends, family and coaches gathered around, Edmonds-Woodway star soccer player Madison Schultz signed a national letter of intent.
Kind of.
The paper she had in front of her had a University of North Carolina logo at the top, and a list of promises underneath that her mother typed up, including requiring Schultz to call home and check in. While it wasn’t an official document, those in attendance still celebrated Schultz’s commitment to play for the Tar Heels, one of the strongest women’s soccer programs in the country.
“I don’t actually get to sign an official (letter),” Schultz said. “I might get to next year. So my mom made something up about a bunch of promises I made to her about making sure I text her and call her. It’s good enough!”
The author of that document, Kelley Schultz, gave a speech thanking her daughter’s coaches and friends for helping Madison throughout her career. She then turned her attention to Madison.
“I’m amazingly proud,” Kelley Schultz said. “This is going to sound so cheesy but I like her so much as a human. I’m more proud of that. If she had chosen to play soccer anywhere, I really wouldn’t have cared. I’m just so excited to be around a teenager that I love, that makes me proud, who represents herself in a really good way.”
Schultz is excited to head to North Carolina — the top women’s soccer program in the country that has won 21 of the last 33 NCAA National Championships.
“Growing up you kind of follow what teams win and UNC is just a dynasty of winners and it’s pretty amazing if you can be a part of something like that,” Schultz said. “I went to a lot of schools and I saw some beautiful schools that I loved — but at the end of the day I get to be a part of something that awesome.”
Schultz verbally committed to UNC last year, prior to leading the Warriors to a 3A state championship. It ended an extensive recruitment that saw Schultz travel around the country to visit schools.
The Edmonds-Woodway senior narrowed it down to a final four of UNC, Washington, UCLA and Duke, before ultimately going with the Tar Heels.
“It is the No. 1 program, not just the country, but the better part of the world for that matter,” said Edmonds-Woodway girls soccer coach Bill LeCompte. “It’s amazing. I was trying to figure out who the last Washington kid who was going to go to North Carolina to play girls soccer and you just sit there and go, ‘I can’t think of one.’ It’s kind of rarified air. That’s a magnificent indicator of what that (longtime North Carolina coach Anson Dorrance) thinks of Madison.”
LeCompte, who has known Schultz since his wife taught her in kindergarten, praised not only Schultz’s soccer prowess, but also the way she carried herself.
“Just to see her play for the team and to see how she is as a teammate, I think that was probably the coolest part,” LeCompte said. “She gets a lot of the publicity that we’ve got the last couple years, but the truth is that she was more about the team than she was about herself the entire time. To see somebody going to a program like UNC, you would think it would be more self-first, but that’s just not who Madison is.”
Schultz, a forward who scored 32 goals last season for the Warriors, is graduating early so that she can head to North Carolina in January. She ultimately decided against playing at Edmonds-Woodway her senior year, and instead has been training with a U-17 boys team and a conditioning coach.
She said it was an excruciating decision not to play with the Warriors as they try to defend their 3A state title.
“I wanted to so bad,” Schultz said. “But if I was going (to UNC) early in January I had three to four months to get myself in a place where, when I showed up, I would feel confident and like I could actually play with those girls. I was a little bit nervous about not being fit or not being a good enough soccer player.”
LeCompte understood Schultz’s decision and has continued Edmonds-Woodway’s success and led the Warriors back to the state tournament.
However, he can’t help but wonder what could have been if he still had his star forward.
“It’s kind of mixed emotions,” LeCompte said. “When she was little I was encouraging her mom and dad to get her into a club (team) and get her formal training to get her to people that could do something with the talent I could see. You go 12 years later, and here I am going, ‘Dang, I’d like to have her on the team again.’ But I understand. It’s a little bittersweet type of scenario. But I think our team’s done well to move on.
“I think it would have been interesting to see how the team would play with her, to have that piece.”
Schultz and her mother have instead become Warriors soccer super fans, cheering the team on all season. The pair plans on going to Sparks Stadium in Puyallup on Friday as Edmonds-Woodway faces Seattle Prep in a 3A state semifinal.
“They’re killing it this year, which is killing me to watch. But it’s awesome!” Schultz said with a laugh. “We’re probably their biggest fans. We stalk them, my mom and I. We’re heading down Friday. She’ll take the day off and I’ll get out of school early. Whatever we’ve got to do we’ll be there.
“It’s so weird. It’s frustrating. I would love to play. It’s so fun to watch. It’s my best friends out there. They’re killing it and having an awesome time.”
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