Alexis Larimore has added a lot of seasoning to Grace’s women’s soccer program in transferring two years ago from LSU. Photo courtesy Jeff Nycz, Mid-South Images

By Mike Deak
InkFreeNews

WINONA LAKE – It’s interesting sometimes to hear how someone ends up in another place. Alexis Larimore is one of those people.

It’s never happened in the history of Grace College athletics where a ‘Power-5’ Division 1 athlete has transferred to Winona Lake from their ultra-coveted locale. Safe to say a trip to Portugal doesn’t influence many to leave the comforts of home to move nearly 1,000 miles from home, either.

That’s become the latest chapter in the story of Larimore. A high school soccer sensation at Denham Springs High School in suburban Baton Rouge, Larimore created a soccer résumé that caught the attention of the big school in the area, Louisiana State University. It was narrative kids in Louisiana dream of, working up the ladder to star at LSU. And for Larimore, she was on her way.

But after two years with the Tigers, Larimore wasn’t the star anymore. She wasn’t even playing.

“It’s not something I ever thought would happen,” Larimore said. “You know Louisiana. You know home. You don’t know Indiana.”

Larimore’s perspective began to change on a mission trip to Portugal. It was there she began talking with a friend of Grace College women’s soccer head coach Michael Voss. “I didn’t even know where Grace was or who Voss was when she told me about him. But it worked out. It was the connection I made with somebody outside the area that changed my mind.”

Alexis Larimore’s speed and smarts makes her a threat on the wing for the Lady Lancers. InkFreeNews photo by Nick Goralczyk

Larimore now faced the crossroads of a life decision. She wasn’t playing much at LSU, in fact, she got into just two matches in two seasons for a total of 29 minutes, ending up redshirting as a sophomore. The trip to Portugal yielded some soccer activities, which included some of the faith and value systems Larimore always had, but wasn’t exactly expressed in detail at LSU. That became the push she needed to get outside her comfort zone.

“I was scared of what it would do to my reputation, going from a D-1 school like LSU to NAIA, but it is a lot more different than I thought it would be. These girls can play,” noted Larimore.

Arriving on campus in Winona Lake certainly was a culture shock. From her hometown of Bunkie, which Larimore describes as only having one flashing yellow light and being in the middle of nowhere, Larimore’s bags were now landing some 950 miles away and an almost 16-hour car ride. Bunkie, situated right on the angle of the ‘L’ on the eastern edge of the state, is home to about 4,000 people, not much less than Winona Lake, but certainly a world away.

“I had my mind made up when I was younger I was going to LSU, and that wasn’t going to change,” Larimore said. “A lot of my family are Tiger fans, and I spent a lot of my childhood going to LSU soccer games.”

Grace isn’t foreign to have Division 1 transfers, just not from the ‘Power 5’ – which includes the Big 10, SEC, ACC, Pac 12 and Big 12. A pair of D-1 athletes are on Grace’s campus this fall in Julia Nagy, who came to Grace volleyball via DePaul, and Frankie Davidson, a men’s basketball player from the University of Indianapolis. Both Nagy and Davidson are from Fort Wayne Blackhawk High School.

Larimore tried to toe the line of stereotype versus normal when asked about home life, and Voss wasn’t helping matters sitting in the team’s conference room.

“So, what are you expecting me to say we eat, crawfish?” quipped Larimore as Voss laughed in the corner of the room. “Because I don’t eat that as soon as I go home!”

Retorted Voss, “But what did you eat all summer?”

Larimore, shading a little redder, admitted, “OK, so I ate it four weeks in a row. Yeah, we do eat that a lot. And we fish and we hunt.”

Trying to steer attention away, she noted, “I actually don’t like gumbo!”

“Food isn’t very good up here. It’s actually very bland. I feel like they don’t season stuff very good here. I remember the first time I went to Texas Roadhouse here with my family, and I ordered a steak, I literally didn’t even finish it. This does not taste like the steak I get back home. It’s completely different. They don’t sell the seasonings here we have at home. You know Tony’s? I went to WalMart and they don’t have it. They have it at WalMart where I’m from!”

So the food, not so good in the north. But the soccer, way different story.

Larimore actually shifted in her chair when asked about the NAIA, the Crossroads League and the talent at Grace. “There is some legit talent in NAIA and hard competition,” the junior said. “The level of play feels higher here than what we had at LSU. I definitely don’t think there’s a dramatically higher level of play at D-1 to NAIA like people would think it is.”

Larimore’s impact was immediate upon arrival in 2019. In 21 appearances (20 starts), Larimore played to an Honorable Mention All-Crossroads level, recording six goals and two assists and putting 13 shots on target for the Lancers as they reached the NAIA national tournament.

2020 has been a little more sporadic with the schedule being as it is. In Grace’s seven matches, Larimore has seen the pitch in six of them and has just a goal and an assist, but Voss is quick to point out he doesn’t need his midfielder to be Lionel Messi. He needs his midfielder to be Alexis Larimore.

“It’s creativity,” Voss said. “She knows when to go in, and when to stay out wide. She can solve things that aren’t planned for.

“In your mind, you think she’s good because she played at LSU. But she really is. She is so intelligent, she wants solutions. She can go out and play, but she wants answers. And if things aren’t necessarily going our way, she wants them fixed. She’s that good. Once she got the basic gist of what we were doing, she was good. I don’t have to worry about her.”

Really, about the only thing Larimore has to worry about these days is where to find some Tony’s seasoning.