When Jordan Ianiro isn’t kicking extra points and field goals for Kirtland defending state championship football team on Friday nights he’s usually out scoring goals for the Hornets’ soccer team.
While he’s pulled between two of the school’s successful fall sports programs, there’s no question where Ianiro’s focus will be next fall.
On Saturday, he committed to play soccer at Cleveland State University.
“It feels fantastic,” said Ianiro, a four-year varsity player and 2013 first team all-Ohioan. “I can’t wait for it all to start.”
Cleveland State’s courtship of Ianiro began in earnest this fall and the two-sport standout visited the school on Wednesday.
It was then CSU head coach Ali Kazemaini offered a scholarship.
“He showed me around on Wednesday and showed me the campus, which I really liked,” Ianiro said. “He showed me all the athletic facilities and then we ate lunch and talked. After we went through everything, that’s when he offered.”
Ianiro spent the next few days mulling over his opportunities.
“After I visited I knew that’s where I want to go. I called him up and said I want to go to Cleveland State,” Ianiro said. “My goal was always Division I. It’s really close and I really like the head coach. The school is really nice. It all just seems right.”
Ianiro also considered John Carroll University, Notre Dame College and Lake Erie College.
A four-year mainstay on the Kirtland soccer team, Ianiro already has scored 67 goals and he hopes to lead the Hornets to the district title in 2014.
“It seems possible,” he said.
That possibility is within reach, in large part because of Ianiro’s impact on the Hornets’ offense.
“I think that the years that he committed and dedicated to the game, probably since he was five years old, it shows,” said Kirtland head coach John Valentic. “He’s got all the physical tools. He understands the game. I think he’ll have tons of success at the college level because he can play anywhere.”
Ianiro, Kirtland’s first soccer player to earn a Division I scholarship offer, isn’t sure where he’ll lineup for the Vikings. He’s just looking forward to starting that next chapter in his career.
“He didn’t really say. He’s thinking midfield or maybe outside defender,” Ianiro said of his future head coach. “He said he recruits soccer players, so anywhere could be possible.”
