Prep Notebook

From the Western Conference to the Ivy League, Hayley Zevenbergen will continue to use her head.

A three-year starting senior center midfielder for Edmonds-Woodway High School, Zevenbergen has made a verbal commitment to play soccer for Yale. She also considered Harvard and University of the Pacific, among others.

Zevenbergen attends King’s, a private school in Shoreline that doesn’t have a girls soccer program. Despite attending a different school, Zevenbergen, E-W’s captain, made quite an impact on her teammates. They voted her Most Valuable Player this year.

“The respect level that her teammates have for her is second to none,” Edmonds-Woodway coach Bill Le Compte said. “Over the last three years they’ve really grown to count on what she brings to the game.”

Zevenbergen strives to make everyone better. “She’s never once looked down on a teammate. She’s really shined (because) she’ll incorporate everybody.”

Zevenbergen, who scored five goals for E-W this season, is one of the biggest reasons the Warriors were able to win the Wesco South and advance to the Class 4A state tournament last year, Le Compte said. “I don’t think her stats show what she meant to our team.”

Nearly six feet tall, Zevenbergen is a threat in the air but she’s also able to beat opponents with her quick feet. Most of her goals came on dead-ball headers following corner kicks and throw-ins. Her fearlessness in the air is a big part of her game, Le Compte said.

“She doesn’t back down from challenges. Her teammates respect her for it.”

DUTY TO SF: Meadowdale’s Jessica Duty has made a verbal commitment to play soccer for the University of San Francisco. Duty, a senior midfielder and team co-captain, was an All-Wesco first-team selection. She also considered Princeton, Nevada and University of the Pacific.

“I love the team, the players, and the coach,” she said. “It was a good fit.”

Duty, Meadowdale’s assist leader this year, knows how to make things happen, Meadowdale coach Sean Griffin said. “She has the ability to be a real impact player. She has good speed, she’s aggressive, she loves to take people on (and) she has incredible quick-foot skills.”

CRAIG TO MERCER: Courtney Craig, a senior on the Meadowdale girls soccer team, has made a verbal commitment to play for Mercer University, an NCAA Division I school in Georgia.

Craig likely will play defender at Mercer. She also considered Gonzaga and Linfield (Oregon). Mercer, which competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference, was 7-11 overall this season. The team’s seven victories were its most since 2001 and it loses just four seniors to graduation.

Craig said she is excited to live in a different part of the country. She picked Mercer in part because it has an excellent pre-med program — she wants to be a psychiatrist.