Central soccer standouts stay home, sign with LCCC
May 22—CHEYENNE — Ekena Little is a self-described homebody who appreciates the support of friends and family so much that she wasn't ready to leave Cheyenne to chase her academic and athletic dreams.
That factored heavily into the Cheyenne Central senior's decision to continue her soccer career at Laramie County Community College. Little will be surrounded by plenty of familiar faces with the Golden Eagles as teammates Jenna Feldmann, Madi Moore and Adelaide Gonzales joined her in inking with LCCC on Wednesday afternoon.
"Staying close to home and by my family was important right now," said Little, who plans to study dental hygiene. "It's really comforting to have so many players I already know who will be on the team.
"I already know their style of play and I already know how they are as people. They're the kind of people I love to be around and I'm glad I get to be around them the next two years."
Moore — a defensive midfielder — is excited to continue suiting up alongside teammates she has had since childhood.
"Being close to home, knowing the coaches and people who have been there made the choice to sign there 10 times easier," said Moore, who will study business and accounting. "I'm really excited to keep playing with all these girls and the other high school girls in town who are signing there.
"I also know a lot of the girls who are sophomores there, and having that familiarity is going to help a lot. We've all played together for years, and that's going to really help us as a team."
Feldmann is the newest to the group. She didn't start playing soccer until her sophomore season when Moore persuaded her to give the sport a try.
"I've really only played three seasons of soccer," said Feldmann, who played goalkeeper for the Indians. "I played volleyball all my life before Madi convinced me it would be fun. I learned to love it.
"I loved the new experiences, the thrill and excitement of learning something new and seeing how quickly I could get better at it."
Feldmann benefitted from having Kaylin Olivas and Chuck Grunfeld as coaches at Central, as both coach goalkeepers for LCCC.
"I had coaches who really invested in me and believed I could play that position, even though I started later in life," said Feldmann, who will study psychology with the goal of working in the addiction field.
"Those coaches gave me the drive, belief and motivation to try to take this far. My volleyball skills translated a little bit, but my coaches really invested in me and worked with me in the offseason. That's how I learned all the little details and caught up."
Gonzales already has a semester at LCCC under her belt after graduating from Central early. She missed out on her final season with the Indians, but Olivas made sure she was included in senior night festivities.
The defender is eager to return to the pitch.
"I was really lucky because the coaches here made sure I was still included in a lot of things, but I really missed playing," said Gonzales, who is working toward a medical career. "When this opportunity arose, I had to take it and couldn't say no."
Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on X at @jjohnke.
