Since she was four years old, soccer has always been a huge part of junior Ellie Wiseman’s life. She has played in countless games, scored many goals and assisted both her club team and school team to victory on multiple occasions. She has been recognized on one of the United States youth national soccer teams, U15 USYNT, and currently plays for Sting Austin and the varsity girls soccer team at McCallum. On August 8th, she verbally committed to play soccer for the Penn State Nittany Lions. 

“From the beginning, I always pushed myself to be the best player I could be and never wanted to sell myself short,” Wiseman said. “I’ve been really lucky to have motivating coaches who believed in me and pushed me to grow.”

The recruitment process can be long, stressful and complicated for some players, but Wiseman committed quickly. 

“I was fortunate that my process went much faster than most,” Wiseman said. “Only about a month and a half from when I could first talk to coaches, I was committed.”

While the official recruitment process can only begin the summer before junior year, coaches began to look at Wiseman during her freshman year. 

“Sometimes there were 200+ coaches on the sidelines, which was exciting but also overwhelming,” she said.

Wiseman kept pushing herself, knowing that her decisions now could affect her future career in the sport. She continued to try and get herself as much exposure as possible.

“At that time [freshman year], I was sending personalized emails to about 30 schools with highlight videos,” Wiseman said. “It felt tedious since coaches couldn’t respond yet, but I knew it mattered.”

Starting  June 15, 2025, the summer after her sophomore year, schools were allowed to directly contact the athletes they were interested in recruiting. 

“That was my favorite part because at midnight, my phone lit up with texts from so many schools,” Wiseman said. “For the next two weeks, I was on the phone with coaches, talking about family, goals and academics.”

Starting Aug. 1, the players were given the opportunity to tour the schools they were interested in, see how the program felt and meet the coaches in person.

“On Aug. 1–2, I visited Penn State and knew it was the right place for me,” Wiseman said. “I chose Penn State because I truly believe they have the best coaching staff in the country.” 

Wiseman joined the McCallum soccer team her sophomore year, the same year varsity soccer coach Jason Rich took over coaching the team. With it being both of their first years on the team, they navigated the challenges together.

“She played a pretty big role, especially as we started to move through the season,” Rich said. “She played a lot of different positions, she’s super versatile and she can play anywhere on the field. That’s probably one of her greatest strengths.”

Junior Maya Garwood played alongside Wiseman this past year on varsity and got to see some of her key qualities throughout the season.  

“She never backs down from a challenge,” Garwood said. “She is also really silly, which makes the team vibe more fun, but is still a great teammate who communicates well and always works hard.”

When choosing between her top schools, Wiseman had many things to consider. One thing that was a standout for Wiseman was feeling confident in the program she was investing in. Penn State’s womens soccer team has consistently been a top program, winning B1G titles and staying in the top 10 nationally.

“As a center back, it means a lot that head coach Erica Dambach is one of the best defensive coaches out there,” Wiseman said. 

With her aunt and uncle being professors at the school, Wiseman felt that the transition to college might be easier with friendly faces nearby, but still wanted to prioritize feeling comfortable at the school on her own. 

“Each coach made me feel at home and showed such strong belief in me,” Wiseman said. “What really set Penn State apart was how comfortable and at home I felt with the staff—these are people I’ll see every day, and that connection mattered most.”

Now that she is officially part of the team, Wiseman has lots to consider about her future. One of the main things is whether she will graduate early.

“My next steps are to keep improving and prepare myself for the jump to the college level, which is much faster and more competitive,” Wiseman said. “I’m also hoping to graduate high school a semester early so I can adjust to the college game sooner. That would also mean graduating college early, which is important to me since I hope to play professionally.”

Rich, alongside the rest of the soccer coaches, is in full support of Wiseman graduating early, even if it means losing one of their starting players.

“It’s just awesome to have that opportunity to be able to go early or not,” Rich said. “We hope she plays her senior year, but if she doesn’t, she’s got an awesome reason. She’s going to play some really high-level soccer.”

Even just in the past year, Rich feels as if Wiseman has made large contributions to the team, not only as a player but as a member of the team. 

“You wouldn’t know she was a super high-level player by her attitude. She’s really humble,” Rich said. “She treats everyone really, really well and helps bring everyone together.”

Though Wiseman has now come out of her shell and formed connections with her teammates, she wasn’t always this way.

“I think she’s kind of let her personality come out,” Rich said. “She was kind of guarded at first, but she’s actually really funny. The team has a great dynamic and she’s a big contributor to that.” 

On top of being a high school student, being a competitive soccer player has made it hard for Wiseman to share her time between school and soccer. 

“With practices almost every night, balancing homework can be tough, and sometimes it feels like I miss out on the high school experience,” Wiseman said. “But I know the sacrifice is worth it.”

Wiseman knows there is still a lot more work to be done, but she is looking forward to what the next few years will bring. 

“I’m most excited to be in an environment with some of the best players in the country,” Wiseman said. “I know it will push me to grow not just as a player, but also as a person.”