The Instagram posts were beginning to pop up faster than usual.

Accounts that repost college commitments for girls soccer players were busy through August, rapidly announcing where the nation’s top high school juniors were headed.

In Minnesota’s junior class, Blake’s Livi Abboud-Young announced she was headed to the Gophers, Woodbury’s Clara Fedunok said she had picked Marquette, and East Ridge’s Maddie Shillings posted she was heading to Drake.

The trio, who all play club soccer at Minnesota Thunder Academy, agreed they felt that, compared to their teammates in the class of 2026, their college searches were accelerated. They attributed that to new NCAA roster limits set in June for the number of student-athletes a Division I school can carry on each team.

The number of scholarships allocated to women’s soccer doubled from 14 to 28. But that 28 is a hard cap — the maximum number of players on the team, which was once a more fluid figure that could reach the low-30s.

“The process is moving so much faster,” Abboud-Young said. “100 percent.”

Other talented juniors will verbally commit as the year rolls on. Those who have announced verbal commitments so far include:

• Rogers’ Greta Chmura: Ohio State
• Edina’s Mikaela Caverly: Kansas
• Hastings’ Siena Sanchez: Colorado
• Eagan’s Tess Triplett: Loyola University Chicago

Rapid recruiting

With the new NCAA roster limits, student-athletes wanted to lock down their spots on Division I rosters. Meanwhile, coaches were eager to round out their rosters. Once June 15 hit, coaches could officially reach out to rising juniors they had scouted, on a day players described as everything from “exciting” to “scary” and “nerve-wracking.”

“Every single person, even coaches that I talked to over the phone and stuff, they’re all just like, ‘Yeah, our timeline has been moved way up,’ ” Fedunok said.

Shillings missed last year with a knee injury and was trying to make the most of each late spring showcase in front of scouts — including a club tournament in Sweden where she scored the championship-winning goal.

“If you were to ask me six months ago if I knew what I was going to do for college, I would not have an answer for you,” Shillings said. “It was nice to see that some coaches still remembered me from when I was healthy … and let me know that they’re still watching me.”

Abboud-Young talked with roughly 40 schools before taking official visits to Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Penn State, which was permitted after August 1. She was already familiar with Minnesota through identification camps and attending games as a fan.

“I’m a really indecisive person, so I knew this process is going to be the worst thing ever,” Abboud-Young said with a laugh. “I think in the end, (Minnesota) was just like home, and I love the coaching staff.”

Leaning on guidance from coaches, older teammates and club advising, the trio each squeezed three or four official visits into the final weeks of summer break. Some later visits, for schools No. 5, 6 or 7, were scheduled but cancelled, once the student-athletes visited a campus where the coaches, team and academics felt like a fit.

No junior season jitters

Though the rush of late summer visits can be a stressful whirlwind for recruits, committing in August allowed a handful to enter the fall high school season with a weight off their shoulders.

“It’s your future in your hands, right?” Fedunok said. “Now that I’ve committed … I can play more for myself instead of playing for [college scouts], and just have a little bit more fun doing it.”

Sure seems like the class of 2027 is having fun.

Abboud-Young — who has fine-tuned her skills at a U.S. youth national camp — has scored 11 goals for an Blake team that’s ranked No. 2 in Class 2A. The Bears are hungry to reach state after falling short in the section final last year, with Abboud-Young recording 25 goals and 13 assists during that run.

Fedunok, a technical and fast forward, leads Woodbury through the start of its stacked Class 3A schedule with three goals, two assists and state tournament hopes.

And after Shillings’ knee injury kept her sidelined for East Ridge’s run to the 3A state semifinals last year, the Drake commit is glad to be on the field as an attacking midfielder and adding to her six-goal tally.

“It’s nice to just be able to focus on right now, because a lot of the recruiting process is focusing on the future,” Shillings said. “Now you can just be in the moment.”