By John Raffel
Three of Midland High School soccer players have committed to college sports careers.
Marie Bringard signed a letter to Central Michigan University, Erin Murphy has selected Michigan Tech and Maddi Davis is going to Aquinas in Grand Rapids. All three will be making the transition to girls soccer in the spring to women’s soccer in the fall.
Murphy said she started thinking about college soccer during her freshman year, but was “on the fence” on what her exact plans would be. She then went to Tech and checked out the school’s academic and soccer program, which convinced her of the decision she made.
Murphy is a defender, who was all-district and all-conference last season.
“I think I’m able to read offensive players really well and cut off their opportunities for passes and stuff,” Murphy said. “I think my intelligence of the game has what’s gotten me this far.”
For now, Murphy is focusing on the 2016 season.
“We have a strong freshman class coming in,” Murphy said. “I’m excited to see what happens.”
Davis said she began looking at colleges during her sophomore season.
“When I came up with my criteria of going to a smaller school with an accounting program and soccer program, I began looking into Aquinas,” she said. “I went there to get a feel for the school. Then I started talking with the coaches and the process of getting to know the school.”
A defender, Davis decided that Aquinas would be her school.
Last year, Davis earned all-conference and all-district titles, as well as league all-conference awards.
College soccer is in the fall, but Michigan girls soccer is in the spring and Davis will be zeroing in on having a strong senior year.
“I’m working on strength workouts and working on various agility workouts to be quicker with my feet and be stronger on the ball,” Davis said.
Bringard, along with the other two, will be senior varsity captain for Midland. As a junior, she scored 12 goals and had seven assists and was second team Division 1 all state. She played a key role in her team’s league and district titles.