Jadyn Easley has Black and Gold in her blood, so electing to play college soccer at Mizzou was a pretty easy decision for the Ozark sophomore.
Easley, who earned all-state honorable mention in Class 4 this past spring, announced her commitment to the SEC school on Wednesday night.
It was a natural decision for Easley, whose parents both attended Mizzou. Easley’s mom was on the gymnastics team.
“I’ve always been a Tiger at heart and I knew if I got the offer I wanted, I’d end up going there,” Easley said.
Excited to announce that I will be furthering my academic and soccer careers at the University of Missourið¯ð pic.twitter.com/u1iIdiFVBB
— Jadyn Easley (@easley_jadyn) September 29, 2016
Boasting superb speed and technical skills, Easley quickly established herself as one of the area’s premier players in 2016. She had 35 goals and 14 assists as a forward for an Ozark team that went 20-4 overall but lost to Nixa in the district semifinals in PKs.
“Personally, my goal was to fit in with the team and get to know the girls and bond with them,” Easley said. “I felt like I did that really well. It was a lot of fun.
“My goal last year was to go as far as we possibly could, but it was kind of sad losing that last game in districts (to Nixa). My goal this year is to definitely get out of districts and to go as far in the state playoffs as possible.”
Easley, who plays club for St. Louis Scott Gallagher, attended Mizzou summer camps in 2015 and 2016 and found the school and program to be the perfect match. Coaches there project her as a future center-midfielder or forward.
Excited to welcome another great addition to the Mizzou family! #FutureSoccerTiger pic.twitter.com/d4Wlu0e0gB
— Mizzou Soccer (@MizzouSoccer) September 28, 2016
Easley also participated in basketball and ran track for Ozark during her freshman year, and said she plans to continue her multi-sport schedule.
She credited her former club coach, Eric Poivre of Ozarks Premier Soccer Academy, for developing her technical skills as a youth.
“He really taught me a tremendous amount about the game and taught me my skill set,” she said. We just worked all the time on my ball skills. And we still do.”
Easley follows in the steps of several recent Division I commits from the Ozarks, such as: Lydia Holtmann (Springfield Catholic ’14, Nebraska-Omaha), Kindra Lierz (Glendale ’14, Southeast Missouri State), Kasey Opfer (Glendale ’15, Iowa State) Dylan Owens (Willard ’15, Abilene Christian) and Bri Halverson (Bolivar ’17, Saint Louis).
