A combined 21 members of the Chicago Fire and Indiana Fire Academy programs and nearly 50 Chicago Fire Juniors club players made their college destinations official Wednesday, participating in collegiate National Signing Day activities.
Among the club’s Academy products to ink their names to National Letters of Intent Wednesday were Cameron Lindley (Chicago/Indiana Fire Academy) and Mauricio Pineda (Chicago Fire Academy). Longtime teammates at the Development Academy and U.S. youth international levels, the duo will continue their playing careers together at the collegiate level, each committing to ACC power North Carolina.
North Carolina commit Mauricio Pineda inked his NLI from Chicago Fire preseason camp in Tampa on Wednesday.
After helping the Fire to a USSDA U-18 national championship, Lindley was named the 2015 NSCAA Youth Boys Player of the Year while Pineda, currently in Chicago Fire first team training camp after completing his high school studies early, earned 2015 All-America honors.
Fellow Academy products Matt Moderwell and Jack Shaw are set to compete in the Big Ten Conference, heading to Northwestern and Wisconsin, respectively. Jacob Graiber (Loyola University) and Aleksandar Labovic (DePaul) each will remain in the Windy City for their collegiate careers, while Jesus Perez this fall will join 2010 NCAA champion Akron.
Other Chicago Fire Academy signees include: Connor Alba (Marquette), Toney Anderson (Wisconsin-Whitewater), David Kovacevic (Bradley), Joseph Lee (Brown), Ben Rohder (University of Indianapolis) and Louis St. John (Dayton).
Indiana Fire Academy’s Spencer Glass will join perennial powerhouse Indiana University this fall, one of eight players heading to the Division I level, along with: Zach Conroy (Drake University), Ian Gammon (University of Evansville), Grant Hollkamp (University of Louisville), Jack Lang (Bradley), Caden McCullough (Drake University) and Derek Sutton (Butler University). Jacob Crull will compete for Spring Arbor University in NAIA.
VIEW: Chicago Fire Juniors College Commitments
On the women’s side, the Indiana Fire Juniors ECNL program saw six players commit to D-I institutions: Brianna Shackelford (Troy), Courtney Hodge (IUPUI), Dylan Wolfe (American), Macy Miller (Indiana), Madison Spencer (Louisville) and Megan McLaughlin (Notre Dame). The trio of Alex Samons, Katrina Ornelas and Mackenzie Hall each are headed to Marian University at the NAIA level.
Additionally, the Chicago Fire Juniors club network saw nearly 50 college-bound student-athletes finalize their commitments on National Signing Day, more than half of which are headed to D-I programs.
For the complete list of commitments announced Wednesday from around the Chicago Fire Juniors, visit ChicagoFireJuniorsCity.com/collegecommitmentsand follow @firejrs on Twitter.
