For many freshmen, adjusting to college life can be tough. For Karin Sendel, a freshman on the Ohio State women’s soccer team, the adjustment might be even harder.

Sendel, a midfielder for the Buckeyes, grew up playing soccer a mere 6,000 miles away of Columbus, in Israel. She is part of a recent trend of international players joining the team, but is the only player to come from outside of North America.

Her journey to American collegiate soccer began with plenty of effort.

“The way it worked for me was different [from American players],” Sendel said of her recruitment. “You kind of have to market yourself. I sent out about 50 e-mails to coaches telling them, ‘I’m going to be playing here, or I’m going to be at this camp.’ It was the only way to get my name out.”

Going through a backwards recruiting process can put a player at a disadvantage, but Sendel was able to get in touch with many American teams, eventually choosing OSU.

“Once I visited Ohio State I knew I wanted to come here,” Sendel said. “I just liked the people here the most.”

It came as no surprise to the team’s coach, Lori Walker, that Sendel took such a liking to Ohio State. Walker has made an effort, of late, to bring in international players to fill her roster.

“When we recruit the top American players,” Walker said, “they have a tendency to go to elsewhere, to more traditional soccer powerhouses. We had to start branching off and looking in different places.”

Changing the recruiting focus has brought quick and noticeable results. The OSU women’s soccer roster currently contains four players from outside of the country, three of them freshmen.

Going to school so far from home has not gone without some obvious hardships that, for Sendel, are most noticeable on game days.

“It’s hard sometimes,” Sendel said. “All of the families come to the game and I’m kind of the only one without anyone there.”

Sendel does not go without any support, however. Freshmen Lauren Granberg and Tiffany Cameron, both from Canada, have faced similar though not as drastic, changes when trying to adapt to their environment. It is the family-like feeling of the program that has made the change easy for them.

“I have never felt awkward here,” Cameron said. “Even during my first visit, I felt like I belonged here.”

They have been quickly accepted by their American teammates.

“It’s not like we’re treated any different because we are international players,” Granberg said. “Now we just act like we are from here.”

Sendel, like Granberg and Cameron, brings international soccer experience that has aided her transition on the field. While Sendel was in Israel, she spent five years playing for the Israeli U19 national team, as well as the Israeli women’s national team.

Coming from an international schedule in which games are often a month apart, to college soccer where the team plays nearly twice a week, has forced a change in her preparation.

“The pressure here is different,” she said. “With so many more games, you always have to be sharp.”

It was her international experience that has allowed her to contribute so early in her career,playing in all of the Buckeyes’ games to date, Walker said.

“She’s very calm and technical,” Walker said of Sendel. “She has tremendous vision that allows her to see things that the average American player can’t see.”

For Sendel, there was always hope that she would make such an impact as a freshman.

“I always expect to do my best,” she said. “If my best is good enough to play then I’m happy.”

It is more than just her ability on the field that has made her such an asset for the team.

Her time in Israel, including two years of military service, allowed her to separate herself from a normal first-year player. It is her development as a person that has impressed her coach the most.

“She is not a normal freshman,” Walker said. “She has an incredible maturity about her.

She is genuinely thankful for her opportunity to play here and is the kind of person we try and surround ourselves with in this program.”