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The news came early, and it became rampant.

Jessica DeLeon, a phenom as a freshman on the Phoenix Thunderbird girls soccer team, is coming back to play her senior season.

During the team's first practices, Thunderbird third-year coach Jenny Alexander could see the talent but didn't know what the big deal was.

Until Thunderbird played its first game.

"Then she blew me away," Alexander said. "And I thought, 'OK, this is what we've been missing.' "

The holiday season has come early for several girls soccer teams. DeLeon is among the players from the multiple Arizona state club championship U-18 SC Del Sol club team (formerly the '93 Sereno team) who decided to play for their high school teams this season, many of them for the first time.

The talent has strengthened traditional powerhouses even more and has catapulted already good teams into the upper echelon. Several coaches before the season had mentioned the incoming SC Del Sol player on their team as a key to their season.

DeLeon, an Arizona State commit who has played for Trinidad and Tobago's youth national teams, has helped Thunderbird to a 7-0 start to the season.

"I've never seen a player as talented as her and be so selfless," Alexander said. "She would rather get assists than score a goal. She can crank in a shot when she wants to but she'd rather get the assists. She's a one-in-a-million player."

The club vs. high school soccer debate has been a constant issue because those seasons overlap, and Arizona Interscholastic Association bylaws do not allow players to play for both teams. It is common for elite club players to forgo their high school seasons during their sophomore and junior seasons.

"It's to prevent injuries but more so to be seen (by college coaches)," said Peoria Sunrise Mountain senior Jocelyn Jeffers, who is playing the high school season for the first time and has scored 18 goals in Sunrise Mountain's first six matches. "In high school soccer, there are no major tournaments where there will be college coaches watching. At big club tournaments in the East Coast, there are 200-plus college coaches at your game."

In October, Jeffers committed to Washington State.

With Lauren Lazo and Bethany Park now in his arsenal, Cave Creek Cactus Shadows coach Jeff Vittorio said this is the best team he's had in six seasons.

Lazo, who is in her first year playing high school soccer, said the entire SC Del Sol team recently voted to play for their high school team as seniors.

"We felt it was a good idea to play and enjoy our last few months in high school," said Lazo, a Princeton commit. "Sophomore and junior seasons are the recruiting years for women's soccer, and the major club tournaments happen during the high school season. So we wanted to have fun our senior year. It's always good to represent your school.

"I'm meeting new friends, and I now have more people to hang out with outside of school and outside of soccer. It's been fun. I'm glad I'm doing it."

Lazo has already played against her former club teammates during this high school season.

"It's neat. We're obviously very good friends, but when we get on the field, we're very competitive," she said. "We all want to have the best high school team and have those bragging rights."

Scottsdale Desert Mountain senior Anya Koren moved from North Carolina before her junior season and is playing Arizona high school soccer for the first time. She has already scored three hat tricks.

"We're all trying to see who can score the most," said Koren, a Hofstra commit. "That's our goal. I know they're all killing it."