Redmond High scored a hat trick on Wednesday morning when three of its student-athletes signed letters of intent to play college soccer next season.
Sierra Bilginer is headed to the University of Arizona, Julian White will take his skills to Seattle Pacific University and Marianna Castro will lend the Hawaii Pacific University squad a hand.
“When I stepped on campus, I just immediately knew it was the place for me,” Bilginer said. “I love the coaching, it just felt really homey and everyone on the team’s super nice and welcoming. It’s really warm there and I just love everything about it.”
Bilginer’s top Mustang highlight was scoring the crucial goal in a 1-0 victory over highly favored Skyline to notch the 4A Kingco title in 2012.
“I can’t really explain the feeling,” she said. “I was just kind of in shock that we had beaten such a good team that was known to win everything. I just didn’t know how to feel at the time: it was so overwhelming and exciting.”
Castro, a goalkeeper, also lists the Kingco title as her top moment wearing a Redmond uniform. The Mustangs ended Skyline’s 37-match unbeaten streak and gave Redmond its first league crown in 21 years.
Hawaii Pacific is the perfect place for her to continue playing soccer.
“Well, one, I’m half Brazilian, so it kind of reminded me of home back there,” she said. “When I went and did my official visit, it was just beautiful and I totally fell in love with it right then. The coach, Gina (Brewer), she’s awesome. She’s always checking up, seeing how I’m doing, seeing how my club team (Eastside FC) is doing here and always making sure that I’m on top of things, getting ready to play over there.”
As for White, he played soccer at Redmond High as a freshman, but made his mark with his Crossfire Premier club team.
White, who scored the game-winning goal in his team’s regionals victory one season, is looking forward to taking his game to the next level.
“(Seattle Pacific) is really the right place for me,” he said. “They’re just close to home and it’s comfortable for me there.”
The athletes’ parents also attended the letter-signing gathering in the school’s career center.
