If timing is everything in recruiting, Notre Dame coach Randy Waldrum couldn’t have asked for a better weekend to have standout SoCal Blues forward Lauren Bohaboy on the South Bend campus than for his team’s Oct. 16 match with Connecticut.

In what was billed as a Big East showdown, the Fighting Irish were definitely on song for the evening and pulled away to an impressive 6-1 victory.

The performance definitely got the attention of Bohaboy, one of the top recruits in the country for the 2011 graduating class.

“They were just really good. They connected on the field together so well. Their passing was very good,” she said. “They were playing the 4-3-3 and I like that system.”

It didn’t hurt that the game was also the same weekend as Notre Dame’s home football game against vaunted rivals USC. That game plus a 2-0 soccer win over Providence and a chance to hang out with the team’s players made it a memorable visit indeed for the young lady from southern Orange County, who recently made a verbal commitment to the program.

“From the minute I stepped foot on campus it felt perfect and was a good fit,” she said. “I got to know the coaches and players and they were nice, plus I’ve gone to Catholic school all my life.”

Bohaboy has also been impressing on the soccer field for a long time. She credits her switch to So Cal Blues at the U13 age group, where she began playing for coach Randy Dodge, as a key to her exceptional development.

“When I made the switch to Blues at U13 is kind of when I took it to the next level. It’s such a great team and club,” she said. “From then on, I worked hard to become better and to be able to play at the next level, which I’ll get to do at Notre Dame. (Dodge) has helped me with my game. He motivates us all and makes sure the team is very close and that we work for each other on the field.”

Dodge said Bohaboy uses a combination of her own natural ability with a forthright and determined personality to excel as a player.

“She’s really smooth as a player. Technically she is very clean and she scores some great goals for us. If you come watch our team play you naturally gravitate to her as a player with the things she does,” he said. “Plus, people are attracted to classy people and she’s very classy as a person.

“She’s a really quiet leader,” he continued. “The girls kind of watch her a little bit and how she carries herself. She is very professional in how she goes about her business, the way she prepares for and unwinds from a game.”

Bohaboy said she works on her own nearly every day, practicing shooting and running sprints. She also watches a lot of soccer and singles out Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid as a favorite.

Dodge thinks Bohaboy’s speed and strength will help her fit right in at Notre Dame and in the Big East.

“She’s a versatile player,” he said. “She could fit in any of those front three spots in the 4-3-3, and if Randy needs her in the midfield she can play there too.”

While there can be a bit of a stigma for Southern California players when it comes to traveling to cold weather climates, Bohaboy, despite admitting to enjoying time at the beach with her friends, says she is looking forward to the change of scenery.

“I wanted to get out of California and experience something new,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to being there."

 

Other top recruits from Southern California for the 2011 graduating class include  Vania Robles, Marie Mackenzie, Kate Perry, Haley Rosen, Loeau Labonta and Kylie McCarthy.