Opoku first soccer player to sign to DI school

Casper College freshman Joel Opoku is the first player in the history of the CC Men’s Soccer program to commit to play for a DI school.

Opoku, (Ontario, Canada), will be heading to Division I Virginia Tech. The Hokies play in the Atlantic Coast Conference. “We are really excited for Joel; he is a great young man,” said Benjamin McArthur, head coach of the Casper College Men’s Soccer team. “We recruited Joel knowing that he was going to get D1 looks right away,” added McArthur.

According to McArthur, because the season has been uncertain due to COVID-19, he and assistant coach Adam Potter have been working to … “help our D1 qualifiers and a few sophomores contact coaches from across the country.”

Despite the loss of official games last fall due to COVID-19, the men’s team competed in several fall scrimmages. “Joel has a great soccer background, and he just needed a year to develop before getting this chance to sign for a top 25 D1 soccer program,” said McArthur. Both McArthur and Potter made sure that the scrimmage games were being filmed. “We were able to take some film from our fall scrimmages to help Joel and other sophomores get attention from coaches at colleges and universities throughout the country,” McArthur said.

“Joel is the first commit in the history of CC Men’s Soccer, and we anticipate a few others in the coming weeks before our season starts April 2,” said McArthur.

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About Virginia Tech: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly known as Virginia Tech, is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. The head coach for the team is Mike Brizendine. As of this writing, the team has a 3-2-2 record and is ranked 4th in the nation in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 list. In January 2021, Virginia Tech had two players drafted in the top-30 of the Major League Soccer SuperDraft, including Daniel Pereira the No. 1 overall pick for Austin FC and that club’s first-ever SuperDraft pick and the first pick in club history. The Hokies play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which includes Clemson University, Duke University, the University of Miami, the University of Notre Dame, Wake Forest University, and others.