My daughter plays defense, she enjoys the back, and is good at it. Let me tell you how annoying it is when the coach needs to throw a girl back on D that isn’t D, therefor she doesn’t know the plays or the slides. She popping 8 meter fouls all over the place and losing her girl. Defense doesn’t get enough credit. Blah
The 2021 class of defenders is one of the best in a long time. Look at the girls from Baltimore, LI, NJ and PA and where they have committed to. The Baltimore UA team had 3 defenders that played on the UA team together for the last 3 years. They just don't give up a lot of easy shots, are all very active and athletic in the clearing game and communicate very well. Makes a huge difference.
It is true defenders are getting recruited at that position more than ever before. Many coaches still recruit midfielders and turn them into defenders. But if your daughter can excel at defense, it is by far the easiest path to D1. Position not sought after like the others and athletic money not as good, but it is more common to see defenders picked up for defense lately. Not knocking anyone's daughter for playing defense, that being said, midfielders still make better defenders, while on the field playing defense as a midfielder, or switching over to the position. Typically faster, more athletic, better stick skills, intuition etc... Look what happens to midfielders that can't hang at that position on any team, they get moved and displace defenders and even attackers. You never see it the other way around.
