Indiana women’s soccer announced its full 2022 signing class Thursday, consisting of ten incoming freshmen. The signees are Sarah Sirdah, Izzy Smith, Marisa Grzesiak, Olivia Albert, Jaelyn Pallas, Olivia Rush, Olivia Smith, Abbey Iler, Natasha Kim and Arianna Rose.
"This class will bring balance and versatility to our roster with players who fit the way we want to play and have personalities that fit the standards of our program,” head coach Erwin van Bennekom said. “We feel we are bringing in some very talented student-athletes who can compete for starting positions right away, which is important with all the players we had graduate from our program this past year."
Sirdah is from Duluth, Georgia, and plays for the U20 Mexican National Team. She also plays for Tophat Soccer Club alongside future teammate Izzy Smith, who is from Birmingham, Alabama. Smith was awarded First Team All-State and First Team All-Metro in high school.
Grzesiak reclassified to graduate high school early and join the Indiana women’s soccer team during the spring 2022 season. She has All-Conference First Team and Honorable Mention awards under her belt for her shortened high school career.
Many of Albert’s accomplishments have come from her Midwest United FC playing career, as she has served as captain of the team for four years and participated in the United Women’s Soccer league. Albert also spent the summer of 2018 playing for Generation Adidas in France.
Pallas led her high school team to a State Runner-Up finish in 2022 and a Final Four campaign in 2021. She was named All Premier Region Offensive Player of the year, along with taking home two All Premier Region First Team awards.
Rush played one year of high school soccer before committing to the Michigan Hawks club full-time for her remaining three years. She was a ECNL First Team Midwest Conference selection for the 2020-2021 season and led her team to the Michigan State Cup Championship and ECNL Midwest Conference Champions every year from 2017-22.
Olivia Smith is an Indiana native and plays for Hoosier FC-Indy Fire. Smith was awarded First Team All-State her senior year and Second Team her junior year, as well as being an Academic All-State honoree in both of her final two seasons.
Iler, who is from Zionsville, Indiana, earned 2022 Indiana All USA postseason Super Team honors and Academic All-State honors her senior year. She is a top-five scorer at Zionsville Community High School with 38 goals and was named First Team All-State twice in her career.
Kim’s club team, Players Development Academy, won the 2021 ECNL North Atlantic Conference and placed second in the 2019 National Championships. Kim earned 2021 ECNL North Atlantic Conference Player of the Year and 2021 ECNL All-American honors during high school.
Rose is from Brampton, Ontario, and plays for the National Development Center-Ontario. She made her debut for Team Canada when she was 15 years old.
