Juli Pengelly has been taking her daughter Carly to soccer tournaments for years. You can bet there were countless early morning wake-up calls as the duo got set for a road trip and many more cold Nevada spring and fall nights of workouts and games.

But on Wednesday, a big a part of their dedication was rewarded when Carly, a Spanish Springs High School senior, signed her national letter of intent to play college soccer. Carly, 18, inked her letter during a signing ceremony at SSHS Wednesday afternoon and is set to play for Division II national power College of Saint Rose.

“To see her work so hard for so many years, it’s great to see that pay off,” Juli Pengelly said. “She’s been traveling for soccer since she was nine. That’s a lot of years and a lot of tournaments.”

Saint Rose reached the Division II national semifinals last fall and posted a 20-4-1 record. Carly Pengelly said the Albany, NY school scouted her at a tournament in Colorado last summer. Golden Knights coaches invited her for a recruiting visit in mid-August and the rest was history.

“They kind of chased me,” she said. “It’s a very pretty campus, very old-fashioned. It’s not as big as other schools so I’ll be a student and not a number. I like the closeness I’ll get with professors. It was an easy choice for me.

“People may not know about my school but it’s a really good school and their soccer is really good ... I just wanted to go somewhere that wanted me. I got really lucky.”

Pengelly’s recruiting visit to Saint Rose was her first cross-country trip. She admitted the long distance from northern Nevada is a bit of a concern.

“Being homesick is one of my biggest fears, but I’ll be with the other girls on the team and working on my game, so there shouldn’t be much to worry about,” Pengelly said.

The Spanish Springs standout said she was also interested in playing at Nevada and that she received recruiting interest from Sacramento State and Northeastern.

Pengelly was a first-team High Desert League selection last fall and led the Cougars to their second-straight regional playoff berth.

“I think when she was a freshman I had a pretty good idea she could play college soccer,” SSHS girls soccer coach Mike Faker said. “Out of all the teams I’ve coached, club and soccer, I can think of maybe two kids that could just score goals and she’s one of them.

“She’s a good athlete and has the skills, but a lot of kids have that. She has the mental edge too, that she can finish and put the ball in the net.”