Deighton Wamer takes direct route to Northern Illinois

Clay High School senior Deighton Wamer did not make the Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press Girls Soccer Team, but she would have been in line for Goalkeeper of the Year.

Clay coach Don “Duck” Hess would have loved to have her playing for his Eagles, too. Clay has won more Three Rivers Athletic Conference girls soccer titles (5) than any other school and was 52-12-4 in the first 10 seasons of league play.

Deighton is the daughter of Clay High Dean of Students and former soccer and track coach Scott Wamer, who gave up coaching so his daughter could “pursue her dream” of playing soccer virtually year-round for a nationally ranked team. It is paying off.

“They are a big-time club,” Scott said. “She is up there at least five days a week because she’s a keeper, so there are a couple days a week where it is just for keeper training, and then she has her normal team training, obviously. Deighton is on the 10-month team, but they are pretty much doing something 12 months out of the year.”

TopDrawerSoccer has Deighton, who plays for the Michigan Hawks based out of the Livonia-Plymouth area, ranked as the 21st best player in the Great Lakes Region regardless of position. 

Deighton has already signed her national letter of intent to play NCAA Division I soccer in the Mid-American Conference at Northern Illinois University. She chose it because of academics, not just soccer, planning to major in engineering.

“I think it’s really the setting. I love the school itself,” Deighton said. “I love what I’m going to be majoring in. They really have a great selection there compared to other schools. I really love the distance — it’s not far and close enough that if I wanted to come home and see my family but can still have the college life.”

The Michigan Hawks joined the United Soccer Leagues W-League in 2004 as the Detroit Jaguars and was renamed to the Michigan Hawks as growth from the larger Michigan Wolves/Hawks organization. The Hawks played in the Midwest Division of the Central Conference. The team competes in the Elite Clubs National League.

The Hawks have reached the national finals 21 times with 10 national championships, 115 players selected to youth national teams and 1,108 former Hawks moving on to play collegiately.

Deighton’s current team, the 18/19U Hawks are currently 9-1, ranked sixth nationally, and have outscored opponents this year, 32-6, with three games remaining. League opponents are from as far away as Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Kansas City, Missouri. The Hawks are already close to qualifying for the national championships in Seattle.

“Right now, we kind of have Big Ten travel,” Scott said. 

In a week, the team travels to a showcase in Florida and then in February they go to Houston, then hopefully in Seattle next June for the national championships.

Deighton has played in goal nine of the 10 league games and has been scored upon only once this season. The other five goals were scored on the team’s other keeper. The second-place team, Chicago Eclipse Select, scored on her during a 2-1 Hawks win. She credits a well-qualified coaching staff for preparing her as a goalkeeper.

“We have multiple coaches there who really look and choose the goalkeeper side of things and really help and work with the goalkeeper side for hours and hours on end. They make sure there is extra training, make sure there are extra games or film or anything like that,” Deighton said.

Deighton says the soccer is intense, since she is competing against other commitments to NCAA D-I soccer, or players still trying to showcase their talent.

“The competition is very hard. There are a lot of determined individuals out there,” Deighton said. “I think that everybody is also competing to play at such a high level, and everyone really wants to drive for the win, or drive for the national championships, and I think the competition is at its highest.”

The ECNL season coincides with Ohio’s prep soccer season in the fall and continues into the winter but does not interfere with Michigan and other states, which play high school soccer in the spring. So, some of Deighton’s teammates will have the opportunity to play high school soccer.

Deighton has played with the Hawks since she was in middle school and chose to keep with the organization. In 2018-19, she was voted first team ECNL All-Midwest Conference.

“Playing for the Michigan Hawks is a great experience for me,” Deighton said. “I think it really provides the opportunity and development for soccer players, especially women’s soccer players, because it allows you to travel the country playing the sport that you love to play, and at a really high level. I think that it is a big commitment for me, but I really love playing.

“I think that playing seven years there, it really just shows me that if you love something enough that you should just go ahead and do it. I think that you should take the risk, take the time, really practice your skills and do it because I love playing,” Deighton continued.

Deighton is currently chasing after a coaching license because she hopes that will be part of her future.

“I love coaching,” Deighton said. “I’m going to be coaching real soon — I’m taking a couple classes, and I want in the future to run a camp.”