Column: Brisendine kicks open door to D-1
A few years ago, after watching a 5-foot-4 Glacier freshman bury a game-clinching goal from 70 feet in playoff win over Billings Skyview, a local writer wondered if Reagan Brisendine might someday add her name to the Legends Stadium Wall of Fame.
Whatever happened to that guy?
Never mind, because we have an update on the player: On Wednesday morning Brisendine inked her letter of intent to play soccer for the Montana Grizzlies next year.
Brisendine finished with 10 goals that freshman season, four coming in the Wolfpack’s postseason run to the State AA championship.
Since then she’s scored another 74 goals, with 27 coming this fall and 33 coming in 2022. Which might get you noticed by some colleges. Not that she hadn’t made herself known in Missoula, home of UM.
“I probably went six years to the Griz soccer camp,” said the now 5-foot-7 senior.
Yet that was no guarantee of success. The Olympic Development Program regional team that she joined had to have helped — among her teammates was Maryland Terrapin keeper Faith Luckey — but another factor really put her on the radar.
“Some of the (ODP) coaches said she really needed to be playing on an ECNL team,” said Rob Brisendine, Reagan’s dad. The ECNL stands for Elite Clubs National League, and when his daughter landed on Seattle’s Eastside team as a discovery player a couple summers ago, well, she was really discovered.
“What I learned is that 86 percent of Division I commits come from ECNL programs,” Rob Brisendine said. “She started getting a whole bunch of really good schools looking at her.”
Miami, Ohio, was interested. The younger Brisendine was invited to a camp at the University of Alabama. Kansas State made contact.
Flattering, for sure, but Montana was always on her radar. The Grizzlies have had quite a notable Flathead Valley influence of late: Flathead High’s Skyleigh Thompson was just named the Big Sky Conference’s offensive MVP. Don’t think the younger Brisendine didn’t notice.
“She’s always been a great player,” she said of Thompson. “But her skill has grown so immensely, it’s crazy.”
Meanwhile Brisendine was venturing out to showcase tournaments in Florida and Washington, running the pitch with the likes of Yale’s Andie Miller and Cal Poly’s Ali Evans. Steel sharpens steel, as they say.
“I was really excited to play because the girls were really all good and fast-paced,” she said. “I knew that’s what college was going to be like.”
Which was always the goal. It’s safe to say that the Griz were a major part of that goal as well.
“I went on an unofficial visit around the beginning of February or late January,” she said. “They offered me a little bit after that. After about a week, I committed.”
Rob Brisendine put it another way.
“Once we knew they wanted her,” he said, “it was over.”
Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or at fneighbor@dailyinterlake.com.