20
Aug, 2020
Internationals SC standouts Jordan Fusco and Taylor Huff have accomplished so much during their youth careers. Now the pair is headed to the University of Tennessee.
Fusco earned a plethora of awards including Youth All-American, three Ohio Valley Conference Team, 2019 ECNL National Selection Game, and 2018 ECNL National Training Camp Best 11 honors. She also received an astounding three ECNL PDP invites. Huff finished with three All-American, one Division 2 Player of the Year, three District Player of the Year, three Richland Source Player of the Year, three OCC Player of the Year, and two Richland Bank Athlete of the Year honors.
Due to their enormous success, Fusco and Huff were highly sought-after recruits that were targeted by a number of Division I programs. Both chose Tennessee for a myriad of reasons.
“I chose Tennessee because it is a great school academically with a beautiful campus and a great soccer program,” Fusco said. “Athletically, playing in the SEC will be very challenging every game and although I do not know my major yet I feel good about any one that I will choose at Tennessee because of their great academic reputation.”
“I chose Tennessee for so many reasons,” Huff said. “It is a beautiful campus. The people are amazing, and it is an environment I knew I would be pushed both academically, athletically, and personally. The University offers so much athletically. When I went down to visit, I experienced in the locker room how everyone was best friends and so close. It is a culture and a family I knew I wanted to be a part of. From the academic perspective, although I don't know what I want to go for, I do know there are so many options that I could choose from.”
Both players credit Internationals for providing them with the opportunities needed to play at the next level.
“Internationals was very helpful in the recruiting process because Zdravko (Popovic) and Keri (Sarver) were helpful in communicating with and passing along information from college coaches,” Fusco said. “Also, they would check in with me to see how everything was going. We had multiple talks and meetings with the Internationals coaches to help see what schools were most likely the best fit for me. Keri and Zdravko would give their advice but let me decide my choice on my own and were very supportive of it.”
“First off, without Internationals I can't say I would be where I am right now,” Huff said. “The staff knows what they are doing, plain and simple. They do their part in choosing the right path as a club and having us play in the ECNL. The amount of exposure the ECNL gives us is unmatchable. Coming to Internationals truly got me on the right path to committing to Tennessee. They provide meetings with college recruiting and truly care about your process.”
Fusco and Huff shared many ways that Internationals SC prepared them for the collegiate game.
“Internationals has helped me prepare for college because every practice and every game in the ECNL is extremely competitive to get us better,” Fusco said. “I think the lifestyle of Internationals has also helped prepare for an easier transition to college soccer.”
“Internationals has helped prepare me to play in college more ways than just one,” Huff said. “We do the beep test which in college everyone will do in preseason. Not only that but going on bus trips exemplifies exactly what college will look like, traveling long distance on a bus then to play games.”
Both praised the benefits of playing for ISC in the ECNL.
“The ECNL has helped me gain exposure to college coaches because at every ECNL showcase game there are lots of coaches on the sideline,” Fusco said. “Also, the special events that ECNL runs such as the national selection games, PDP, and the ECNL national training camps bring additional exposure.”
“I tell everyone and will continue to tell everyone,” Huff said. “If you want to play college soccer you need to go to Internationals and play in the ECNL. You won't go anywhere else where there are that many college coaches just walking around. You have the great opportunity to perform in front of so many college coaches. It is truly something big.”
The pair will join ISC alum Maria Nelson in Knoxville.
“It was very cool to see Maria have a lot of success at Tennessee,” Fusco said. “It was great to see her play and start right away as a freshman and it was fun to watch her. It will be great to have three girls from our club on the team when I get there.”
“It is really nice to have someone you know that is already there and experiencing what I will in a year,” Huff said. “Maria is a great person and soccer player. She has had great success but that also comes with so much work. I am looking forward to see what amazing things she does this year and then getting to join her next year.”
Sarver has been thoroughly impressed with the work of Huff and Fusco.
"We are so proud of the accomplishments of Taylor and Jordan,” Sarver said. “On the field and off, they have earned and deserved every award and accolade that has been bestowed upon them. Each of them brings a consistent level of commitment, competitiveness, excellent training habits, and both are high achievers academically. It is unique and rare to have two All-Americans on the field together on one club team. They have one more year playing together with the club and will no doubt be a handful for ECNL opponents to contain. Taylor's ability to run at defenders, threaten back lines and score goals combined with Jordan's ability to find space, escape pressure, break lines with her passing and dribbling will no doubt produce many exciting moments this year and for years to come at Tennessee."
It’s clear that both Fusco and Huff have a bright future ahead of them, and they still have much that they want to accomplish in their final club and high school seasons.
Photo Credit: Kim Bruni