BE's Alexis DeMarco commits to play soccer for Western Carolina
Bishop England High School girls’ soccer star Alexis DeMarco’s excitement was off the charts when she recently committed to Western Carolina University.
You can imagine what cloud she will be on when she signs her national letter of intent and finally matriculates to the Cullowhee, N.C. school.
“I’m very excited. I love it,” said DeMarco, who has helped the Bishops win back-to-back state titles. “I went to their camp about three weeks ago, and they had 30 players from (the class of) 2020. The day after the camp, they reached out to me. They said they were looking for one more recruit and they wanted me. I couldn’t believe it.”
DeMarco, a Daniel Island resident, gave everything about the school and its women’s soccer program high marks. That included her future teammates, her future coach and WCU’s environs.
“I went up again, after I committed, and visited the campus,” she said. “I stayed with the girls on the team. They are so nice. The coach (Chad Miller) is awesome. The campus is so cool. I really want to go there.”
The school is located in Cullowhee, a picturesque and quaint valley of the Tuckaseigee River between the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky mountain ranges, and is only 52 miles west of Asheville.
The Catamounts went 8-8-2 last year and closed the season with a 1-0 loss to Furman in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference Championships.
DeMarco isn’t sure if she will sign in November, which is the early National Signing Day or the more traditional signing day, which is the first Wednesday in February. Either way, she’s just happy to be done with the recruiting process, which began in earnest her sophomore years. She also considered Furman and was set for a visit to Eastern Carolina. She canceled that visit when she committed to the Catamounts. She said the University of Georgia had also been in contact with her.
She has business to take care of on the soccer pitch before she matriculates to WCU. She would like to help the Bishop girls complete a hat trick with another state title in May.
“I definitely think it’s possible,” said DeMarco, who scored 12 goals last spring despite spending most of her time as a defender. “I feel we can have a phenomenal team. We can even be better than we were last year.”
The Bishops posted a 24-3-1 record last spring and topped Powdersville 4-1 in the Class AAA state championship game. It was Powdersville’s only loss of the season.
DeMarco plays soccer year round. She’s been a contributor on the USA Mount Pleasant squad and spent this summer as a member of the Charleston Fleet, a team with girls from all over the country on the roster.
But she enjoyed the Bishops’ squad the most.
“High school soccer is a lot more fun than playing on a travel team,” DeMarco said.
DeMarco won’t be one dimensional when she arrives in Cullowhee. She has a 4.3 GPA heading into her final year at Bishop England. She plans to focus on sports medicine. Her mother, Melissa, is her occupational inspiration. She is a physical therapist.