Girls soccer: Richmond-Burton’s Reese Frericks commits to Southern Indiana

Reese Frericks needed to find a way to make one of the biggest decisions of her life.

The Richmond-Burton senior earned scholarship offers to play college soccer at either Southern Indiana or Idaho State, and she tried to find differences between the two after falling in love with both schools.

In the end, Frericks wanted to be closer to home so her family could come watch her matches. She committed to Southern Indiana on Monday.

“I’m really excited,” Frericks said. “I cannot wait to play there. I feel like it’s going to be a really fun experience.”

Frericks said she always dreamed of playing Division I soccer and started her recruiting process last summer by reaching out to coaches and playing in showcases. Southern Indiana noticed Frericks during the U.S. Youth Soccer Midwest Regionals in June, and the two kept in contact.

She visited Idaho State in June and went down to Evansville to check out Southern Indiana in September, when she fell in love with the players, coaches and campus. Southern Indiana is 367 miles away from Richmond compared to the 1,453 miles it would take to get to Pocatello, Idaho, so the distance and environment at Southern Indiana made the choice easier.

“I felt like that was somewhere I wanted to spend four years,” Frericks said.

R-B coach Casey DeCaluwe helped Frericks manage her recruitment and weigh between playing D-I soccer or looking at some other options. DeCaluwe has watched Frericks make improvements each season and thinks her speed will help her compete at the D-I level.

He’s excited to watch Frericks take the next step for her senior season and college soccer.

“She’s one of the hardest-working players that I’ve had an opportunity to work with,” DeCaluwe said. “To see all of her hard work end up with her reaching her goal of playing Division I soccer is really neat to see.”

The 2022 Kishwaukee River Conference Player of the Year is excited to be done with the recruitment process so she can focus on the rest of her club season with Eclipse and prepare for her senior high school season. Frericks scored 45 goals and had 10 assists during her junior season, earning her Northwest Herald Girls Soccer All-Area first-team honors.

After R-B made program history last season by finishing runner-up in the Class 1A state tournament, Frericks is ready to get to work and finish her high school year with another opportunity to win the Rockets’ first state title.

“High school is my favorite season of soccer, so I’m really excited to play with all those girls again and be a part of that team,” Frericks said. “I feel like we all play really well together, and I can’t wait to be a part of that again and hopefully have a good run like last year.”