Twitter @ValerieRowell

Anastasia Whitehouse will play soccer at Armstrong Atlantic State University after the Lakeside High senior accepted a scholarship Wednesday to play at the NCAA Division II school in Savannah, Ga.

“I wanted a small school, smaller classes,” said Whitehouse, who plans to study journalism. “I love Savannah; all that culture.”

Whitehouse, 17, will be spending much of her time doing what she’s done since she was a young child, playing soccer. She’s played midfielder and defense for the Panthers since her freshman year.

It’s been a good first week here at The News-Times.

I’ve had the chance to attend a few basketball games and witness National Signing Day in full force, with numerous student-athletes selecting their colleges of choice.

As the winter sports come to a conclusion in the next few weeks, I look forward to throwing myself into the spring sports arena and getting to know local athletes, their coaches and school administrators.

Twitter @ScottRouch

When Greenbrier girls soccer standouts Bay Daniels and Carly Ray signed their letters of intent Wednesday to play soccer at South Carolina, they made official what they had planned for at least a year.

“I feel like an official Gamecock now,” said Ray, who verbally committed to the school in October 2010.

“I’m grateful they’ve stayed healthy and have the opportunity at South Carolina,” said Carly’s father, Curt Ray. “I’m really proud of them. It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work.”

Twitter @ScottRouch

When Greenbrier’s Thomas Brown signed his letter of intent Wednesday, he made a move with long-reaching implications.

The Wolfpack’s multi-sport star signed with the U.S. Air Force Academy, making official a decision he had been keeping under his hat for a while.

“I decided last month that I wanted to go to Air Force,” Brown said. “They were my first offer. They offered me at the end of my junior year and it just seemed right.”