YUMA, Ariz. - On Tuesday afternoon in front of her teammates, coaches and peers, Arizona Western women's soccer player Linka Ono signed her national letter of intent to join the LSU Lady Tigers soccer team. 

"We've had many other players go to the DI level," Arizona Western head coach Victor Verdugo said. "But this is the biggest. LSU is one of the premiere college programs with one of the best coaches in the country."

Ono, a 2024 All-American, helped lead the Lady Matadors to back-to-back NJCAA DI Women's soccer national championship games. This season, she was a team captain, named Region 1 player of the year, and also selected to the NJCAA DI Women's Soccer All-Tournament team. 

"She's one of the best players in the country," Verdugo said. "LSU is looking for special players to come in. Not just players but students. Linka was an Academic All American as well. LSU has similar values as us, looking for great young people and students. Very privileged that we had her here as a player. She set a great example for the team and there are players here because of her. She had a good experience here and she is an example of what your journey is as a student-athlete at Arizona Western." 

Ono says her choice to start her collegiate career Arizona Western was a great one. 

"For me, coming here gave me a lot of opportunities," Ono said. "My first language is not English, so, I came here and learned English and now I can speak the language. I want to say thank you to everyone."

Linka also shared what she enjoyed most at Arizona Western.

"I love my team, and I love my teammates, to me they are number one," Ono said. "Going to the national tournaments with this team, even though we didn't win it all, to me, this team is number one in the United States."

Ono says once she visited LSU, she was hooked. 

"Head coach Sian Hudson was really kind to me," Ono said. "She tried to get to know me personally. She really understands a lot about me. I'm really excited, this was a dream of mine to go to LSU."

Linka won't have to wait long, her time at Arizona Western has come to an end as she will fly home for the holidays, then attend LSU starting in January.