On November 11th, West Orange girls soccer star Natalie Nevins signed her letter of intent to play Division 1 soccer at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Nevins was accompanied by friends, family, coaches, and administrators as she signed the papers, making her officially a Saint Joe’s Hawk. 

Nevins has had a phenomenal career at West Orange, leaving her mark on the school and town. She has played every varsity soccer game since her freshman year ending with an outstanding 69 goals and 88 assists. She has set the all time assist record and is the only player to reach 50 goals and 50 assists. In addition, she has earned many noticeable awards such as all state and all group selections, player of the year candidate, and was added to the All-American watch list. 

When asked about her time in high school Nevins states, “My high school experience has been so amazing. It exceeded so many of my expectations. I am so satisfied with my team and our accomplishments. No one ever thought we could do what we did.”

While she is very pleased with her high school experience, Nevins acknowledges that college is the next step in life and is ready to move on. She states, “I am very excited to go to college and start this new chapter of my life. I want to get out of the West Orange circle, which has been great to me but I need to start a new chapter of my life and experience something new.”

Any athlete who wishes to play at the next level knows how stressful and confusing the college process is. Nevins was determined to find the right school for her and explains her own recruiting process: “For me, it started in 7th grade because I was on a good team. The crazy part about the recruiting process is that is starts so young and changes so much overtime. The schools that reach out changes so much overtime that you don’t really have a good sense about what you want or who truly want you until you get older.  I didn’t know about Saint Joes until my mom told me that they reached out so I went to a clinic and fell in love. They say you know when you have found the right school and I had that feeling immediately.”