The University of Dayton mens soccer program received its second verbal commitment recently as Indiana prep star Tye Stebbins will join Fairmont’s Chris Rolfe in next year’s incoming class.

Stebbins comes to UD from Zionsville HS (Zionsville, IN), where he earned 2nd Team All State honors as a junior and 1st Team All State as a senior. He was a four-year starter in HS and earned All-Conference honors every season. Stebbins was named to the Indianapolis Star Super Team in 1998, 1998, and 2000, as well as a member of the ODP State Team in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. His HS team, a school comprised of about 800 students, finished ranked 13th in the state in 2000, 11th in 1999, 20th in 1998, and 1st in 1997. The 1997 squad was ranked as high as #17 in the nation.

Indiana HS soccer is not broken down into divisions so schools of all sizes – large and small – play for the same state title.

“Every school plays one another,” Stebbins said. “Sometimes that’s a disadvantage to my school because we only have 800 kids or so.” Nonetheless, Stebbins holds the school record for career goals (73) and goals in a season (28). He also finished his career with 26 assists.

Stebbins narrowed his college choices down to a handful of schools before settling on the Flyers.

“I was also considering Xavier University, the University of Cincinnati, and Brown University,” he said. “I decided to come to Dayton because it’s a great school academically and has a very good soccer program. Also, I didn’t want to go extremely far from home. It’s only like a two-hour drive.”

The Indiana soccer standout excelled in the classroom as well. He was named academic All-State the last two years while maintaining a 3.86GPA and scoring 1210 on his SAT. He is also a member of the National Honor Society.

Tye Stebbins is a member of the Indiana Inferno ’83 club team, a squad that finished IYSA state runner-up the last three years, won the Ohio Adidas Premier League in 1998, and took part in the Tampa Bay Sun Bowl and Busch Cup in St. Louis, MO, among others. Stebbins hopes to study Business or a related field at the Univ. Dayton.He joins Fairmont HS star Chris Rolfe in next year’s freshmen class. Rolfe was the WOL Player of the Year and District Player of the Year as the Firebirds made the regional tournament for the first time ever after defeating arch-rival Centerville HS for the first time in school history – a 2-0 victory in the postseason tournament.