After four years of varsity soccer at Strawberry Crest, Ezra Carpenter has committed to continue her academic and athletic journey at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, N.C..
Stepping onto campus as a freshman, Carpenter immediately made an impact on the Chargers program as one of the only freshman to see significant varsity action that season. In her first year with the team, Carpenter finished the season tied for the team lead with 12 goals while adding a pair of assists en route to the best single season win total in school history as they finished the year at 11-4 while claiming the program’s first district championship.
As a sophomore, Carpenter’s production soared. Across 15 matches, Carpenter scored a team-high 23 goals with five assists as the Chargers once again posted another historic season, finishing the year at 13-3 and claiming their second consecutive district championship behind two goals from Carpenter in a 2-0 finals victory over Bloomingdale.
As she quickly grew into a steady leader on the field, Carpenter used her experiences as a young starter to become a leader off of the field for Crest as well, looking back on her time as a new freshman and the anxiety that comes along with it to help bring along other young players that were new to the program.
“I was one of the only freshmen to play my first year,” Carpenter said. “I started as a striker and I scored my first goal against Plant City but the two games before that I was a nervous wreck. I was worried about impressing my teammates that were primarily juniors and seniors and so over the years I think that helped me try and become a kind of role model for the younger girls throughout the years. I tried to include every single person on the team, I tried to make friends with everyone on the team and kind of make it a big happy family, just making sure that no one felt left out or like they didn’t belong there. And that translated to the field, we could all help each other and figure out how we all played and use that to the best of our ability to win games…Our coach would try to get everyone to play and after going through it I knew for a fact that some of them were a little worried, some wouldn’t come out of their shell so I tried to encourage them, talk to them, communicate with them on and off the field to help them warm up. Even if it was just to me at first, but at least just to let them out of their shell because I know how it felt. It’s a new environment, you want to make the most of it, you want to impress your teammates, you don’t want to feel like you’re a burden to anyone else on the field and I can understand that – I’ve always had that little bit of anxiety with that as well and it’s normal, it’s natural. So I wanted to make sure that they felt normal, they felt natural and that they could play to their best without ever feeling like they didn’t belong.”
And in her junior season, while the Chargers took a step back in the win column with an 8-4-3 record that culminated in a loss in the district semi-final, Carpenter had found herself on state leaderboards as her 29 goals – an average of 2.2 goals per game throughout her 13 matches played that year to go along with a career-high six assists – put her tied for 32nd in the state of Florida for the winter season.
As for club soccer, Carpenter began playing soccer at four years old through Fishhawk before moving over to the West Florida Flames Soccer Club at nine. She started her time there playing with the Flames’ standard team as opposed to their Development Academy team due to the fact that it allowed her to continue playing middle school soccer as well, but eventually transitioned to their Girls Academy League team in high school. And upon joining the Flames GAL team, the potential for playing in college began to look like a reality.
She started putting videos out to schools and coaches as a sophomore and attended her first ID camp the following summer with Orlando City — her first chance to speak with college coaches. The next year consisted of Carpenter traveling throughout the southeast to different tournaments and ID camps — from North Carolina to South Carolina to Georgia and all throughout Florida. During her recruitment she talked to a number of schools that included Jacksonville, Davidson, and Florida Gulf Coast, among others. Carpenter mentioned that Florida Gulf Coast was certainly high on her list following an appealing offer, until she made contact with Lees-McRae’s coach Cally Morrill following a showcase in Greensboro, N.C.
“After that showcase I got a random email from Lees-McRae’s coach, it was out of nowhere, and she just said that she got to see one of my games and that she wanted to get to know me and asked if I wanted to come and see their campus,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter mentioned that Morrill liked her speed. her aggressiveness, her impact on the field and her leadership, all things that led to Morrill reaching out and making Carpenter one of her first recruits in her return to the Bobcats’ program. But through the conversation Carpenter learned that in addition to a potential opportunity to play soccer at Lees-McRae, the school also provided her with a great opportunity academically in her desired field.
“She also talked about a couple of the things that the school provided that would be of my interest because I wasn’t going to college just for soccer, I’m going to college for my academics because I want to be pre-vet, so I wanted to find a good college that could provide the education I need,” Carpenter said. “Then I went there and I loved the place. It’s up in the mountains, the coach met us and took us on a tour, showed us the wildlife rehabilitation center and I got to hold some of the animals that they have at their sanctuary that can’t be released. She helped me meet the veterinarian that works there and I just fell in love with the school once I got there. The coach made my mom and I feel at home, she made my parents feel comfortable with the hands that they’re leaving me in and stuff like that, it was just a nice out-of-nowhere process that resulted in me being like, you know what, maybe this is the place for me. And while I hadn’t been in contact with her for as long as some of the other coaches, it just seemed a lot more promising.”
With all of that in mind, Carpenter subsequently received an official offer and committed to Lees-McRae later that summer.
In her senior season this past winter, Carpenter continued to score at a jaw-dropping rate with 20 goals and two assists over her 12 matches played, leading the Chargers to a 9-5-1 record and a district semifinals appearance — the program’s sixth consecutive winning season as Carpenter capped her high school career by leading the team in goals all four of her seasons at Crest.
Arriving to campus in early August, Carpenter will enroll at Lees-McRae this fall as a pre-veterinary major with a minor in wildlife rehabilitation.