For Irvine Strikers defender Joe Sofia, quiet and solid have been two consistent adjectives.

The tall central defender, now on the team's U18 Academy squad, has been with the club since the U13 age group. While some teammates like Bobby Wood, Patrick Matchett, Kovi Konowiecki and Jose Tamayo have gotten more attention, Sofia has quietly built a standard for solid play and overall excellence.

This was especially made manifest when Sofia was named an All-Star at the adidas ESP camp in Denver last July, and then a member of the USSF Development Academy Starting XI for the Southern Cal conference.

The hits keep coming for Sofia and he has just made a verbal commitment to join Jorge Salcedo's program at UCLA. While he agrees that he had not gotten as much notoriety as some of his teammates, he didn't stew about it, but rather used it as a motivator.

"That just motivated me to get better and make a name for myself too," Sofia said.

A ballwinner in the air with good feet and communication skills, getting better is something the 6-2 defender has taken to heart.

"I have improved on my vision and being calm and collected in back, and on seeing the field better," he said. "That was the major thing – I just started juggling more on my own and playing a lot of 1 and 2 touch in practice. It's helped a lot playing at a higher level in the CSL Premier League and the USSF Academy. And of course I've been listening to all my coaches."

Sofia's coaches in youth soccer have included Mike Rubio, Erik Kirsch, John Szuzuka, Don Ebert, Tim Leonard and Bryan Wallace.

Even more coaches were trying to get Sofia to play for them at the college level, with almost 30 schools showing interest. He chose UCLA over Stanford, Santa Clara, Notre Dame, and Cal Poly, saying the feel was "just right."

"UCLA was always my dream school, so to get an offer from there really flattered me," the Orange Country resident said. "I looked at the others and a lot of Ivy League schools, and I got an email from Duke right after I committed which I'm sort of bummed about, but I don't regret committing to UCLA at all."

While playing at UCLA may not have been a foregone conclusion, it certainly isn't providing any disappointment to his parents Joe and Pam, with his mom being an alum and his cousin a former water polo player at Westwood. Despite being early in his junior year of high school, Sofia says he was ready to make the decision.

"Honestly, when I walked in at UCLA this summer for their camp, I just felt really good at the school, like it's where I should be," he continued. "I know it's early in my decision, but all the coaches and players there, and being a UCLA fan all my life really solidified the decision for me."

Sofia has already set a goal of making the starting lineup for the Bruins. He also would like to win a national championship there and eventually play professionally after finishing his education. He continues to work toward getting noticed by the U.S. Youth National Team program, hoping that a rugged center back with good composure and accolades from the Academy League and ESP will help earn him an opportunity.

In the meantime he'll continue working at taking quiet and solid to new levels of success.