A stand-out Dixon High School soccer player has taken her game overseas after signing with a professional soccer club in Sarajevo.

Taylor Harrison of Dixon set multiple soccer records at DHS before graduating in 2021 and continued to develop her skills as a midfielder at Loyola University in Chicago. This summer, one of Harrison’s former coaches connected her with the European team. She joined SFK 2000 Sarajevo, the Women’s Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, last month, Harrison told Shaw Local.

After Harrison’s final fall soccer season at Loyola, “I kind of decided that going pro was the career path that I wanted to take so I’d been looking all spring for an agent with no luck,” she said.

That summer she decided to go play on a team in Seattle, when one of her former coaches called her and said, “I’m putting your name out there to two of these clubs” - one being SFK 2000 Sarajevo, Harrison said.

She said she didn’t hear anything for awhile, but “randomly one day he [the former coach] was like ‘Want to go to Bosnia next week? They want to see you play.’”

“It happened very, very fast,” Harrison said. Five days after that phone call, “I was out here in Bosnia, on trial with this team and haven’t left since.”

Harrison’s mom, Sara Harrison, remembered that week “thinking we gotta get her out there,” Sara told Shaw Local.

Sara said she booked the whole family flights to Bosnia and a “one-way” ticket for Harrison “in hopes that they would sign her and they did.”

“None of this would be possible without them [Harrison’s family]. I’m really grateful for all these opportunities that come around, but without them, none of this would have been able to happen,” Harrison said. “It’s been kind of a crazy ride.”

In an Instagram post, SFK 2000 Sarajevo welcomed Harrison to the team Aug. 20. The post, when translated to English, reads: “Our team was joined by midfielder Taylor Harrison from the United States...although she had the opportunity for other European engagements, she decided to build her new football story in SFK 2000 Sarajevo.

“When we had the opportunity to see her on the field, it was clear that she would fit perfectly into our team and our football philosophy.”

Members of the Dixon City Council spoke with Harrison via video call during their meeting Tuesday, Sept. 2.

“It’s pretty cool to have representation from Dixon, Illinois,” council member Mary Oros said.

Harrison is the only American on the Sarajevo team.

Back in Dixon, Harrison’s younger sister is a sophomore at DHS and is following in Harrison’s footsteps on the soccer team. She’s already beat Harrison’s freshman year record and her goal is to beat Harrison’s high school record, Sara said.