Asheville – The Carolina Day School community held a soccer signing ceremony on Friday, May 7. Will Watson ’21 is pursuing soccer at Princeton, an Ivy League university. At the ceremony, Watson signed his national letter of intent with the Tigers, Princeton’s NCAA Division I athletic program.
“I’ve put a lot of time into it, obviously; but it doesn’t stem from me, it’s the people that support me every single day,” Watson said.
He thanked his teachers and coaches at Key School and Carolina Day and showed appreciation for the athletic programs of FC Dallas Academy and Highland Football Club (HFC).
Watson began at Carolina Day in the fifth grade but spent the 2019-20 academic year enrolled in FC Dallas’ residential soccer academy. As a member of the US Soccer Development Academy, FC Dallas Academy prepares players to compete in professional soccer. International competition is part of the program, and teams have traveled to Bolivia, Madrid, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Spain, England, Germany, Qatar, and other countries.
Watson returned to Carolina Day for his senior year and chose Princeton over several other offers because of their program in economics and their exceptional soccer team.
He plans to pursue economics and said Princeton’s “need to serve humanity with economics is just incredible—and their department there is incredible.”
The Tigers have won nine Ivy League championships, the most recent coming in 2018. Watson will be one of three Carolina Day Wildcats competing in Ivy League athletics next year.