According to the soccer website Big Soccer, Janet Rayfield now has three players verbally commited to play soccer at Illinois from the class of 2010.  We told you earlier this fall about midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo from Naperville, who is rated as by Top Drawer Soccer as #41 in their top 100 players in the class of 2010.  Rayfield has also gotten verbal commitments from forwards Kassidy Brown of Lake Zurich and Janelle Flaws of Glenview. 

Both Brown and Flaws play for the Ela Elite club team out of Lake Zurich.  Their Ela Elite squad has played in the US Youth Soccer National League for the past two years.  That team is currently competing in Orlando, Florida with games on Wednesday, yesterday and today.  They dropped a 2-0 decision to Eclipse Select on Wednesday and played to a 0-0 draw against the Dallas Texans yesterday.  They'll take on the BVSC Stars today at 5:30 pm.  Flaws is among the top scorers in the US Youth Soccer National League, with 2 goals in 6 games so far this season. 

Also, congratulations to Illini senior midfielder Marti Desjarlais, who has been named a second team Scholar All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.  Marti made some great contributions for the Illini on the pitch in her four years, and it's always great to see someone excel both on the field and in the classroom.  Here's the entire list of Scholar All-Americans.

More soccer recruiting news as it becomes available.  Signing day for the class of 2009 is in February.  Rayfield has five players verbally commited for next season, not counting Steph Panozzo, who is enrolling this month after spending the fall with the Canadian National U-20 team.  Panozzo still has all four years of eligibility remaining. 

bmoline@wdws.com