When Oakley Rasmussen was 6 years old, she began playing club soccer. She played for Infinity Soccer Club based out of Cache Valley, Utah. There, she matched up against the Utah Glory.
On the other side of the pitch, Sophie White stood with the Glory. It was the first time Rasmussen and White played each other. The duo continued playing soccer across the state growing up.
Rasmussen joined La Roca FC, a club soccer team in South Weber, Utah, in fifth grade.
During her first years with La Roca, Rasmussen would match up against Sparta United Soccer Club, a team White played for four years after her time with the Glory.
“We were rival teams,” Rasmussen said. “ We always knew of each other.”
When they were about 11 years old, the two first played together for the Olympic Development Program, a state soccer team that competed against other states. They didn’t really know each other despite being teammates.
But, when White turned 14, she joined La Roca and became teammates with Rasmussen. The pair have been close friends ever since.
Now, the Utah standouts are redshirt sophomores on the Florida Gators soccer team. Both took their official visits to UF at the same time and committed during their junior year of high school. White and Rasmussen are the only players from Utah on UF’s roster.
“It made the transition to going to college so far away so much easier,” White said. “I don’t know, a coincidence? Sure, yes, a little bit. But it made it so much easier to go that far away and still have a piece of home with us.”
It was nonstop soccer almost all year when White joined La Roca. The club traveled all over the country to compete in academy tournaments and showcases. Pit stops included Washington, California, Oregon, North Carolina and Florida, as the two faced against the strongest club soccer teams in the country.
La Roca played in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy against the top clubs in the US. Clubs included teams from Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League.
White and Rasmussen won multiple State Cups with La Roca, including an impressive performance at the 2019 U.S. Youth Soccer National Tournament. The team won their respective group and advanced to the semifinals.
The two players raved about their time with La Roca. Both said it helped prepare them for college life, White said.
“It’s some of the best coaches ever,” White said. “They are really big on family type of stuff.”
Adolfo Ovalle, the founder of La Roca, coached the two players at the club.
Originally from Santiago, Chile, Ovalle played professionally in his home country and the United States before he started the club in 2005. The program has produced 24 players who have signed professional contracts, according to Ovalle.
White is a midfielder and Rasmusen is a forward on the pitch. The friendship between the two grew stronger as they played more together, and they were fantastic on the field, Ovalle said.
White and Rasmussen committing to UF caught their coach by surprise because the club had never sent a girl to the University of Florida, Ovalle said.
“Going to the Gators, for us, was a special thing,” Ovalle said. “To send two girls at the same time to the same team, that made it even more special because I knew they were there for each other. I was so happy, and I can’t tell you how much we celebrated that.”
With the Gators, White and Rasmussen have supported each other through injury struggles.
During their freshman season in 2021, they were sidelined for the whole season with torn ACLs. White tore her right ACL against Texas last year, costing her another season.
Despite being injured for the rest of the year, White said Rasmussen was one of the main reasons she managed to get through the injury.
When White tore her ACL against Texas, White went to Rasmussen.
“I broke down and she was right there to help me,” White said. “She’s been through it, she knows and she understands that it's hard, so it's easier to get through it because of her.”
Last season, Rasmussen started in eight out of 17 games for UF. She recorded one assist and was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team.
Though she didn’t have her friend on the field this year, Oakley can’t wait for White to get healthy again, she said.
“I love playing with her,” Rasmussen said. “Since we’ve played together for so long, we know each other’s strengths. We know how each other plays. That helps us work together well.”
The Gators will open their season against Georgia Southern in an exhibition match Aug. 6. The team’s first regular-season game is against East Carolina Aug. 17. Florida will look to improve on a 2-14-1 season in 2022.
Rasmussen is confident the team can put together a winning season.
“We’ll have a big team,” she said. “Just working and competing every single day to get better and push everyone on the team to get better too. Working for each other and competing for each other to be able to win.”
Contact Bennett Solomon at bsolomon@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @B_Soly11.
