A local kid from Clayton Heights has broken a big record at a U.S. College.
In September, Mikayla Yarwood made her 220th career save for the Wheeling University Cardinals women鈥檚 soccer team in a game against the Notre Dame College (Ohio) Falcons. The save pushed her past former record holder Tina Dengler (2004), breaking an 18-year record at the West Virginia University.
The record-tying stop came in the 40th minute when Yarwood knocked down a Notre Dame volley just before the halftime whistle. She made seven saves total in the game.
鈥淪he鈥檚 the first goalie in the history of the (soccer) program to come close to the record,鈥� said Yarwood鈥檚 dad, Shane Yarwood.
He said the whole family is proud of her, for both her soccer achievements and how she has matured into an adult.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen a lot of growth in her and a lot of maturity,鈥� added Shane. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been good for her that way.鈥�
Shane said Mikayla used to be a shy, timid kid鈥攕o much so, he wasn鈥檛 sure she鈥檇 stay at university.
鈥淪he would never even want to go to Vancouver by herself, nevermind West Virginia,鈥� he explained. 鈥淪o this has been a great experience for her鈥攇rowth-wise, maturity-wise, mentally, it鈥檚 been good.鈥�
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Yarwood, a 2018 Clayton Heights Secondary grad, started playing soccer for 91原创 United when she was 10.
鈥淪he played house and then moved on to div. 1,鈥� said Shane. 鈥淪he had an opportunity to play HPL, but decided not to. She wanted to play with her friends and was noticed by the goalie coach for UBC.鈥�
That coach told Yarwood she was good enough to play university soccer and that she鈥檇 need to reach out to U.S. Colleges if she wanted to win a scholarship.
鈥淲e hadn鈥檛 really thought about that before,鈥� remembered Shane. 鈥淪o she started to pursue that.鈥�
Yarwood put a bunch of game highlights together and uploaded a video to YouTube. From there, she contacted 300 schools in the U.S. and got calls back from 15. Ultimately, six invited her down for campus visits and she eventually accepted a scholarship offer from Wheeling.
鈥淚t was quite a whirlwind experience,鈥� said Shane. 鈥淯p here, we just don鈥檛 understand their system.鈥�
Yarwood has made the dean鈥檚 list every year while at Wheeling. She is currently taking classes towards a law degree and she plans to go to law school next September somewhere in the U.S.
鈥淔unny thing is, she actually graduated with two degrees in May,鈥� explained Shane. 鈥淏ut, because of COVID, and an injury year, she is still eligible to play this year and another year after this.鈥�
Shane said he鈥檚 not sure his daughter will use that final year of eligibility to play soccer at law school as she thinks the workload will be too high.
Yarwood plans to relocate to Washington State or Oregon after law school and practice law somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.
鈥淚t鈥檚 closer for us,鈥� laughed Shane.
editor@cloverdalereporter.com
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