How Mia Cairone overcame having her verbal scholarship taken away amid House v. NCAA settlement

Mia Cairone had a gut feeling she didn’t want to believe. In May, she heard rumors about colleges setting roster limits amid the House v. NCAA lawsuit but never thought it would affect her.

A few months later, the Council Rock North soccer player received a text from a fellow member of Penn State’s 2025 recruiting class that read, “Hey, I got decommitted.”

Cairone had a meeting scheduled with Nittany Lions coach Erica Dambach that day and knew she might have a similar outcome. Trying to remain optimistic, nothing could have prepared her for that call.

Sitting beside her parents, Steve and Kari, in the office of their Bucks County home, Cairone, who made her pledge to Penn State in August 2023, felt the tears rush down her face as Dambach said they could not honor her verbal commitment.

“I don’t even know how to describe what I was feeling,” Cairone said. “I think it was honestly the worst moment of my life. My senior year is about to start. I don’t have a college. I have no idea where I’m going. Almost every high-level program is filled with spots.

“I’m the kind of person who usually has a plan — I’m organized. I had no idea what to do, and that was really scary for me.”

The four-year varsity starter, who plays forward, has aspired to compete in Division I since eighth grade, and she knew she had the talent to get there. So right after she got off the phone, Cairone went to her room, which was covered in Penn State gear, and got on her computer to email coaches.

This time with a different approach. She only wanted to look at programs that still needed players in the class of 2025. That’s when Nebraska came into the picture.

“I also was looking at more Big Ten schools,” Cairone said. “Part of it was a little revenge factor. But the other part of it was that I love Big Ten soccer. They definitely go all out. I love the pace of the game.”

» READ MORE: How the House v. NCAA settlement could affect college athletics and local universities

In September, Cairone announced her commitment to the Cornhuskers. She felt relieved to find another home, she says, but it doesn’t take away from the experience she endured.

Penn State women’s soccer set its roster limit at 28. It had 11 commitments in the class of 2025, but six of them, including Cairone, who was one of two Pennsylvania natives in her class, had their scholarship offers taken away.

“She had been committed for an entire year,” said Mia’s mom Kari, who played basketball at Lafayette College. “Completely stopped all of her outreach and making videos. … They specifically said to her, ‘We like to keep the best of Pennsylvania in Pennsylvania.’ Mia went to [their] clinic — played great, scored goals, and is from Pennsylvania. What’s not to like? We really didn’t see it coming.”

Her dad Steve, a former soccer player at Lycoming College, added: “It was complete anger, frustration, and a lot of disappointment. As a father, there’s absolutely nothing I can do for my kid right now.”

Across college sports, more athletes are being affected by universities preparing for a post-House v. NCAA settlement world, where fewer roster spots would be available for nonrevenue-generating sports, Philly attorneys AJ Rudowitz and Bryan Shapiro of Duane Morris told The Inquirer.

The settlement says major sports conferences wrongly prevented athletes from earning money off their celebrity because they didn’t have a revenue-sharing model. If approved, the settlement will pay approximately $2.78 billion over 10 years to more than 10,000 current and former students who played Division I sports in 2016 or later.

It also would remove scholarship limits, but spots would shift away from nonrevenue-generating sports to give more to revenue-generating sports, like football and basketball, the lawyers said.

So why are limits now being implemented despite not being approved? Rudowitz and Shapiro said teams’ current rosters will not be “grandfathered in” if the House settlement is approved, meaning schools likely want to ensure that they have not overextended their resources.

It was shortsighted, Cairone said, and she wasn’t going to shy away from that. So she posted about her experience on X, indicating what happened. The post gained traction, with over 400,000 views, and made her realize that she wasn’t alone.

“If you’re going to implement a big change in recruiting, you need to have a better plan of how to do it,” Cairone said. “I wanted coaches, players, parents to see my posts and see what was going on because I didn’t know how else to tell people. I feel like if you hear someone that’s decommitted, you think something bad happened, like an issue they had with the coaches or team. I wanted to clarify pretty early on what happened.”

» READ MORE: Twenty years ago, her uncle attended Navy. Now 17 years after his death, Maggie Borek is following in his footsteps.

Using her voice, but handling the matter in a mature way, Kari said, is the biggest testament of who her daughter is. From the beginning of her recruiting process, she did all the outreach to colleges.

Playing on teams like FC Bucks, an ECNL club, and the Players Development Academy in Franklin, N.J., also helped give Cairone exposure to college coaches while advancing her development. Once schools could start reaching out to athletes, Cairone had a list of programs from the Big Ten, SEC, and Ivy League looking to chat and requesting visits.

“Mia was really in charge of what she was doing, which I think is a big step to begin with,” said Council Rock North girls’ soccer coach Gavin Flannigan. “Then once this happened, I think her mindset to absorb it, move on, and kind of reposition herself will be helpful as a life skill. She was able to turn around and be mature enough to go again.”

Cairone says she’s in a good place. Sometimes she finds herself even making jokes about what happened. But she would tell others who are dealing with a similar situation to stay resilient. The college landscape will continue to change and impact Olympic sports. It’s important for those athletes to stand their ground, she said, for the game they love.

Her positive outlook also shines on the field. Cairone, who was recognized as an all-state and all-region player last season, has been a leader for Council Rock North. Currently, the Indians (11-3) are ranked second in the Suburban One League and will face Bensalem on Tuesday. She believes this year’s group has what it takes to go far.

“I’m not looking to score the most goals in the state or be an All-American,” she said. “My main goal is just make an impact on my team. It’s a very small-scale goal, but I think it makes a big difference. This team has potential, and I’m really hoping that if I can make an impact, we can do great things.”