She was a three-time first team selection to the All-Metro team and the 2008 Metro Player of the Year while playing soccer for the Thunder of Mt. St. Mary Academy.

She set the all-time scoring mark at MSM.

Now, Breanna Catipovic will take her scoring ability to Niagara University as she recently signed her letter of intent.

It’s a culmination of four years of hard work and while other schools, like Canisius and the University at Buffalo, were trying to get recruit her services Catipovic felt Niagara was the perfect fit.

“It wasn’t really (a hard decision),” stated Catipovic. “I knew I wanted to go to Niagara. It just felt right when I went there. When I went to Canisius, I just didn’t get a feeling. When I went to Niagara I did.”

In recent years, Niagara has cornered the market on Buffalo talent - keeping a lot of the better soccer players in the area at home.

That local talent has produced of late as Niagara reached the finals of the MACC tournament - before falling to Loyola, 3-2.

“It’s nice that I am going to know some of the girls,” stated Catipovic. “But, it doesn’t make a difference.”

What will make a difference is her play. If you have never seen Catipovic in action - you’ve been missing something special.

Catipovic has been one of the more gifted players in Western New York girls’ soccer the past four years.

When Catipovic stepped on the pitch you knew something special was going to happen.

She could easily take over a game with her speed. It seemed the only team that could slow her down at times was rival Nichols, but even the Vikings had trouble.

She constantly endured double teams, but yet found away to score three or four goals a game.

Even though she was in high school, her game has always been tailored for college.

Some might have thought she was bored out there at time - but that was never the case.

“I was never bored,” she said. “It was just fun to play, whoever the competition was. Whether is was against harder competition or not so hard competition it was just fun.”

And while she was the one of the most dominating players in high school, she still knows the transition to college will be tough.

“I expect to have a tough time,” explained Catipovic. “I mean the competition is much greater than high school. I’m just trying to prepare for it.”

It’s not easy sometimes for high school stars to make the transition to college. The rigors of everyday life sometimes get in the way.

It takes a special person to become a dominant player in college.

Bre Catipovic has the chance to become that dominant player with her work ethic and love for the game.

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