Notre Dame’s McClernon fulfills dream by signing with Virginia
The gathering at the Academy of Notre Dame Wednesday afternoon was two and a half years in the making. But to Phoebe McClernon, no matter how ceremonial a gesture putting pen to paper may have outwardly seemed, the finality it offered was profound.
McClernon, a three-time girls soccer All-Delco, was one of legions of fall athletes pledging their futures to colleges with national letters of intent Wednesday. While McClernon has known since her sophomore year that the University of Virginia was her destination, the wait to make it official has been lengthy.
“It’s been a little like, ‘is it going to happen? When is it going to happen?,’” McClernon said. “It’s just a lot of waiting.”
Waiting, however, does not imply impatience. McClernon enjoyed a sensational sophomore campaign in the fall of 2013, scoring 30 goals and adding 12 assists in the converted defender’s first experience as a forward. She parlayed that success into the Virginia offer, and she jumped at the chance to join the Cavaliers’ national powerhouse.
“I’ve never wavered in where I wanted to go,” McClernon said. “Virginia no matter what was always my No. 1. It’s just been hard to wait two years to live that out. If I could be on campus tomorrow, I would.”
McClernon’s role in high school has changed. Injuries impacted Notre Dame in 2014, limiting McClernon to 12 goals and 14 assists as she occupied a more withdrawn midfield role. Despite a coaching change and a youthful supporting cast in a strong Inter-Ac League, McClernon improved on her junior tallies with 12 goals and 15 assists, the latter total leading Delco, as a senior.
McClernon joins Penn Fusion teammate Meghan McCool of Springside Chestnut Hill in signing for the Cavs. They’ll be joined next year by club mate Sydney Zandi of West Chester Henderson.
“It’s awesome and it definitely helps having people you know to share it with,” McClernon said. “It helps that we play on the same club together and we are able to push each other in practice.”
With McClernon’s heart long set on UVA, she’s watched from afar as the Cavs continued to entrench themselves as a national power. The Cavs lost in the national title game in 2014 and emerged from the 2015 regular season as one of the top four seeds before being upset in the national quarterfinals in penalty kicks by Rutgers.
Perhaps more important for UVA’s prominence is the profile of some recent graduates, who have appeared for the world champion U.S. national team before leaving Charlottesville.
Defender/midfielder Emily Sonnett received her first cap as a senior last fall before becoming the No. 1 overall pick in January’s NWSL draft by the Portland Thorns. Midfielder Morgan Brian debuted for the senior national team before her junior year; two years later, she was an integral cog in delivering the U.S. a world crown. UVA coach Steve Swanson, the U.S.’s Under-23 coach, served as an assistant to Jill Ellis for the 2015 World Cup in Canada.
McClernon has long harbored such dreams. Wednesday, she took an important step on the path toward realizing them.
“I think it’s a dream for anybody who wants to play soccer that ultimately the dream is to make the national team,” she said. “A coach as influential as Steve Swanson is a big part and it’s what you need to get you to the highest levels. It’s so inspiring to see what those players can do, and I want to be there and be a part of it.”
