Seaford Soccer Star Taking Her Talents Abroad

SEAFORD, NY—A Seaford High School girls soccer player was named to a prestigious travel team and will venture to France this fall for an international tournament. Junior Olivia Pearse was one of 18 players chosen to represent the United States as a member of the U.S. Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program’s national team.

Olivia got her start playing soccer when she was 3 and joined her first organized team with the Levittown Soccer Club. In seventh grade, she was a member of Seaford’s junior varsity team and moved up to varsity a year later. A midfielder and forward for the Vikings, Olivia was an All-County player as a freshman, All-Conference as a sophomore and both All-County and All-State this past season.

With a desire to play at the professional level, Olivia has always looked for additional opportunities to play soccer, develop her skills and showcase her abilities. After trying out for the ODP, she was named to the Eastern New York team and was among hundreds of soccer players who attended a camp at Rider University. From there, Olivia earned a spot on the East Region team, the only player from New York to do so, and competed in a tournament in Boca Raton, Florida against teams from three other regions.

Twenty-three girls were picked to attend ODP’s national training camp in Tampa in January, and 18 were selected for the national team, scheduled for tournament play from Oct. 23 to Nov. 3 in France.

“Soccer lets my whole personality come out,” she said. “I like the competitiveness of it and where it can take me in life.”

Olivia credits her success to her family, teammates and coaches, particularly varsity head coach Ken Botti, her father, Rob Pearse, who coached her for five seasons with the Levittown Wildcats, and Ron Alber, her coach with the ECNL Girls Elite Soccer League based in East Meadow.

“There are a lot of people that have supported me and who I have learned from,” she said. “My dad was a tremendous influence on my early soccer years and encouraged me to get better and better.”

Although she still has another year to play for Seaford, she has already committed to playing for Hofstra after graduation, a decision she made because of both is strong soccer program and academic reputation.