Lakeland Christian's Maddie Lopez signs with Western Carolina

LAKELAND — And just like that, Maddie Lopez's travails of the past two seasons were all but forgotten.

First, after battling through an injury-riddled senior season, Lopez helped Lakeland Christian win its third consecutive state title. Then this week, she solidified her future by signing with NCAA Division I Western Carolina.

Lopez's recruiting was slowed because of the knee injury that kept her out the junior season and the ensuing club season, then she was slowed during her senior season with a hip injury. So she began emailing colleges to see whether they were still looking for players from the Class of '23. Most did not reply, but Western Carolina did.

"They said they looked at my highlight video and said they were interested," Lopez said.

Lopez then made a visit, loved the campus and accepted the offer. She said the coach was excited to have someone with her speed.

Lopez has played mainly forward in high school but plays outside back in club. In the state championship match against St. Johns Country Day, LCS head coach Jason Streets played her in a defensive role for most of the match knowing that her speed could keep up with the Spartans' offensive threats. She moved to forward in the last 20 minutes and created offensive chances. She was taken down on a play and the ball went out of bounds to set up a corner kick that Lily Harrington scored on for the Vikings' first goal.

Lopez said her preference is to play outside back. She said a couple of other programs responded but she did not consider them.

"Western Carolina stuck out for me because I love the program, and it's in North Carolina and I always wanted to go there," she said.

Streets said Lopez should fit in well at the school.

"Looking at the teams that they play and knowing some of the players up there, I think she'll do well," he said. "To me, it's just her getting her confidence and strength back. I think she'll get up there and really have some success."

Because of her injuries, there was a lot of uncertainty regarding her college future. The state championship and signing made up for it.

"I was really relieved to have that weight off my shoulders," she said. "I think it's just a great way to finish my senior year. Obviously, I've been a part of this program for so long. It's just a great way to end it."

Lopez began playing on varsity as a starter in the seventh grade. She teamed with former player Katie Carnes to provide LCS with a dangerous scoring combination at forward for the ensuing four years.

As a seventh-grader, she scored eight goals with 21 assists. As an eighth-grader, she scored the only goal in the Vikings' 1-0 win over Miami Country Day in the region final and finished the season with 19 goals and 20 assists. She followed up with 14 goals and 17 assists and 22 goals and 17 assists over the next two seasons before missing her junior season. Her final goal of her sophomore season was the game-winner against American Heritage in the state championship game that clinched the Vikings' first state title.

Although she was slowed for a good portion of the season, Lopez still finished with seven goals and 10 assists to finish her career with 70 goals and 85 assists.

Lopez plans to major in exercise science.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland Christian's Maddie Lopez signs with Western Carolina