Following a four-year tenure with the Yelm High School girls soccer program, midfielder Holly Dorhauer has found her next home for both education and athletics after she committed to Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.
Dorhauer, a four-year varsity starter and three-year Tornados captain, originally spoke with Eastern Oregon University’s soccer staff and head coach Josh Goodman in May.
“He invited me down for a visit in May, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go there for school, but I went down there, and I absolutely loved it,” Dorhauer said. “I got my offer around the third week of August, and I absolutely loved the camp. So I committed, and I’ll be on scholarship.”
Dorhauer added that Goodman came to Washington to watch Dorhauer play in the summertime, and she also returned the favor by attending an Eastern Oregon University camp in August to compete, too. After visiting the school twice and experiencing the soccer team’s competitive culture, Dorhauer was sold on the university.
“I got to play in a scrimmage down there when I visited in May. Their team culture is like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Dorhauer said. “They’re super competitive. They work really hard. They push each other to make one another better, but they all support one another. They’re a family on and off the field.”
With her commitment to EOU, Dorhauer will once again have the opportunity to play with her former high school teammate Meridee Hill, who transferred to EOU from Saint Martin’s University earlier in the year.
“Meridee is how I started looking into Eastern Oregon. I’m really excited to have the chance to play with her again. I didn’t think I’d ever play with her again after high school,” Dorhauer said. “I loved my visit and knew right away that I wanted to go there. Meridee is the reason I started looking there at Eastern Oregon.”
While attending EOU, Dorhauer plans on becoming a nurse and applying for the program after her sophomore year. She noted that EOU is partnered with the Oregon Health and Science University, presenting a tremendous opportunity for the future EOU Mountaineer.
Dorhauer spent all four years of her high school tenure playing for her father, Jay Dorhauer, on YHS’s varsity soccer program. She said it was nice representing the red and black for four years while playing with her closest friends.
“It’s crazy. It went by so fast. I still remember my freshman year tryouts like it was yesterday,” Dorhauer said. “It’s so much different than club soccer, and it’s a nice break. I enjoy playing here with all my friends and getting to play two games a week. It’s a lot, but it’s also a lot of fun and I’m very thankful I got to play with this team.”
For any young athletes with dreams and goals of becoming collegiate athletes, Dorhauer’s message was about trusting the process and sticking to hard work.
“Don’t compare your process to anybody else’s. I thought I was late to committing and was stressing for a while. Everybody has their own process, and we all have different timelines,” Dorhauer said. “If you’re looking into college soccer, your timeline is going to be different than other people’s, but you have to put in the work to get there.”
