On February 3, Sammie Hoefs signed her National Letter of Intent to play DIII soccer at Randolph-Macon College (RMC), located in Ashland, Virginia.

Despite looking at many other schools, Hoefs quickly realized that RMC was home.

“I was looking at a lot of different schools, but ultimately decided on RMC,” said Hoefs. “It checked off a lot of my boxes, and when I went to visit the school, I just had a gut feeling that it was where I was meant to be.”

Hoefs has been playing soccer since she was six years old and has always had aspirations of playing at the college level. Hoefs plays center mid-field on both the Linganore Varsity team and her club team, FC Frederick.  She is a two-time state finalist with her club team and scored the game winning goal that sent the Linganore team to the 2019 state semi-finals.

“I think I ultimately knew at a young age I wanted to play because I watched my sister train to be a collegiate athlete as well. Soccer is in my whole family, and I could not imagine not playing in college,” said Hoefs.

Hoefs had a fantastic support system during her recruiting process. Her sister, Hannah Hoefs, a 2016 Linganore graduate who played soccer at Loyola University, Maryland, helped push her to become the athlete she is today.

“This is definitely not the senior year or signing day Sammie deserves, but I am so proud of her for signing to Randolph-Macon College to continue playing soccer. She is going to absolutely crush it in the RMC’s Honors Program and on the soccer field, and I can’t wait to be your number one fan while you do so,” said Hannah Hoefs.

There is some friendly competition amongst the sisters, as Hannah was recently assigned to the assistant coach position on the Shenandoah Women’s soccer team, another competitive team in the ODAC (Old Dominion Athletic Conference.) The two will compete against one another on October 6, 2021.

Hoefs’ parents are just as ecstatic about their daughter’s athletic success. 

“We are very proud of Sammie and all that she has accomplished as both a soccer player and a student athlete,” said Sue and Kevin Hoefs, “She has worked extremely hard to achieve her high academic standards as well as her goals to improve as a soccer player.”

While there were many reason’s Hoefs chose RMC, their dedication to student athletics was very important to her.

“It really is hard to pick just one, but being a girl who loves all different types of sports, I loved the atmosphere of all the very good and competitive sports teams that RMC offers. The whole school is always supporting the athletes and there are always many fans at the games,” said Hoefs.

College soccer is the next level up from club soccer, but it’s a challenge Hoefs is ready to take head on. Her confidence, excitement, and drive will help her as she joins the defending ODAC Champions this fall.

“I feel happy and excited nerves,” said Hoefs. “Of course it is going to be very different, and I am going to have to learn very quickly and adjust, but I feel all my past coaches have prepared me well for this next step.”

Her FC Frederick club coach, Coach Chuck Hommey, would agree that Hoefs has what it takes to be a Yellow Jacket.

“As her coach at FC Frederick for the past several years, Sammie’s fierce attitude, desire, competitiveness, intensity, high fitness level, and overall hard work is all I could ask for as a coach,” said Hommey, “It’s been an honor to be part of her development as a player and person.”

At Randolph-Macon, Hoefs plans to major in early childhood education and minor in either business or psychology. She aspires to be a kindergarten teacher and has hopes of coaching her own soccer team someday.

The Yellow Jackets had an outstanding record of 21-1-1 in their 2019-20 season.