According to this June 2019 article. Very odd. Bishop Miege sends quite a few kids to ND. Surprised we haven’t been in touch with her.
According to SkinsHoops86, ND sent a coach to the Americas competition, so whomever that was certainly got to see Verhulst, Citron, Miles, etc. front and center.
For what it's worth, it's not as if ND is unaware of her: Niele tracks Verhulst on social media and one of the UConn assistant coaches now does.
As the article points out, she didn't quite come out of beyond left field, but she was not a top-of -the-conversation name when discussing the leaders for the u16 team. Her performance has obviously changed that.
While being affiliated with a Catholic School is not a primary consideration, it certainly plays into "fit". Recently, we've seen that with Arike, Jordan Nixon and Dani Patterson, Katlyn Gilbert, Anaya Peoples and, most recently, Nat Marshall.
Besides Verhulst, Caitlin Clark (Class of 2020), as well as Sonia Citron are also attending Catholic Schools.
Of course, the main reason for liking Clark, Verhulst and Citron is their high level of play. I also love the fact that all three guards are 6'0" or taller.
Coach Owens was the all week.Posted her trip on Instagram.
...starting with 6'7" Post Lauren Betts, who is the Class of 2022 and forwards 6'3" Joniah Barker and 6'3" Timea Gardiner.
...with comments from the coach and Verhulst.
...I coached women's AAU soccer for years so I'm in front of the "Sweet Sixteen" World Cup matches right now and it's easy to post/respond to hoops posts in between video reviews. France vs. Brazil is getting pretty tight at the 80-minute mark now.