Wilson senior Zander Wall has committed to play soccer at Tufts University, a small liberal arts Division III school outside of Boston. He verbally committed in the middle of September and is excited to become an elephant. 

Wall expressed his enthusiasm about playing college soccer, ”I’m excited to meet all my teammates and play in actual games,”  Tufts was not the only school interested in Wall; Princeton, UPenn, UMass Amherst, and NYU were all interested in the senior soccer star. Wall chose Tufts because “the coach was super interested in [him], it also just had everything [he] was looking for.” 

Wall’s recruitment process was greatly impacted by Covid-19, and he was not happy when his senior season got cut short, but he persisted. Although Wall has never been able to showcase his talent as a Wilson Tiger because of his club’s rules, he still missed out on playing this fall. Wall explained “A lot of coaches got to see me play my junior and sophomore year when Corona hadn’t hit yet,” however once the pandemic struck the process continued with “highlight tapes from previous games.” He added how difficult it was that many coaches wanted to see him play, and could not. Luckily for Wall, several coaches already knew him as a player, which did benefit him in the long run. 

Wall received guidance from his parents and coaches to assemble the best highlight tape possible, compiling the best snippets from his matches on the field. What made Wall stand out as a player, getting him noticed by so many coaches, was his versatility on the pitch playing as both a center mid and a center back, in addition to his “technical ability on the ball, and leadership on the field.” 

Wall plays for the DC United academy team, and has for four years now. He mentioned how he believes the high level competition at the club really helped him grow as a player. “I really liked both the training and the intensity in terms of competition,” explained Wall. Wall is eager to continue growing as an athlete throughout his soccer and academic career at Tufts. Wall will head up to Massachusetts with his tiger pride as he becomes an elephant, embarking on his bright future on the field and in the classroom!