Diana Ordonez achieved one of her biggest goals when she made the national team in early July.

“I was preparing to be on the national team ever since I first knew about it,” Ordonez said. “I found out in May and was so excited that all of my hard work was finally paying off. I knew it would all be on God’s time, but I had to do my part and work hard.”

The national team has helped Ordonez develop her soccer play because of the challenge in playing against teams across the world.

“Since I’ve been part of the team we’ve gone to Florida, California, China, and Oregon,” Ordonez said. “The international level is so competitive. Being able to train with the best has been a blessing and has made me a much more competitive player.”

However, because of the team’s tough schedule, practicing a week every month, Ordonez decided to switch to home school to finish the rest of her junior and senior year.

“My multiple absences were affecting my attendance and I knew I was going to continue to be absent a lot this semester, so I decided to be home schooled,” Ordonez said. “It is very nice to be able to get ahead and only work on school a few hours a day and also to train more often with a more flexible schedule.”

As for her future, Ordonez plans to play Division 1 Soccer at the University of Virginia.

“I plan to play in college and hopefully make the full national team,” Ordonez said. “As for outside of soccer, I plan to get my degree in criminology and sociology in hopes of becoming a criminal investigator.”