By: Naomi Etienne

Mt. Hebron senior Iva Damyanova has taken her soccer career internationally! The varsity soccer player has been selected to represent Bulgaria on their U19 Women’s youth national soccer team—the first in Mt. Hebron to do so. 

Damyanova has been playing soccer at Mt. Hebron for four years and just signed to play the next four years at the University of Maryland, Baltimore College (UMBC); she explained how this whole process came about.

“Since I am a dual citizen, I wanted to play for my nation, so I started communicating with the coach there,” Damyanova stated.

Within the past few months, Damyanova has traveled back and forth between Bulgaria and the United States multiple times. Given that the European nation is over 4,000 miles away, the recruiting process can be tricky. 

 Damyanova stated, “A lot of the recruitment was done online through film and video.” 

After concluding their film studies, the coaching staff asked Damyanova to attend a training camp in late September. In the week she spent in Bulgaria, Damyanova was able to practice with the team and play two international friendly games against Romania. 

Once the training camp ended, Damyanova was formally invited back to represent Bulgaria at the European Qualifiers for the U19 age group in late October. 

In the meantime, Damyanova returned to Ellicott City to continue playing for Mt. Hebron girls varsity soccer. 

As late October approached, Damyanova headed back to Bulgaria. Over two weeks, Damyanova and the U19 women’s youth national team participated in matches against Croatia, Georgia and Latvia. 

The Bulgarian women’s football team under 19 placed second in their group in the European Qualifiers. Damyanova has returned to Mt. Hebron, and is on the path to a state championship with the girl’s varsity team. 

“It was a great experience and an honor to get to represent my country.” Damyanova shared. “I got to play at an international [level] quick and practice with extremely talented girls.”

Mt. Hebron congratulates Damyanova and wishes her and her team luck as they take on states.