Wake Forest adds trio of transfers from Miami, UCLA and San Francisco

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest women’s soccer has announced the signing of rising sophomores Taylor Maxwell and Sofia Atehortua, as well as senior Kaitlyn Sasadeusz for the upcoming season.

Maxwell joins her sister Kylie Maxwell in Winston-Salem after her freshman year with the Miami Hurricanes. During her first collegiate season, the Langhorne, Pa.-native tallied over 700 minutes on the backline, making eight starts in 13 appearances.

The defender spent her club days with Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals Soccer club, securing three straight Mid-Atlantic Conference Championships. Maxwell earned multiple accolades across her high school career at Neshaminy HS, including 2021 Rookie of the Year, First Team All-SOL in 2024, and Second Team All-SOL in 2022.

Throughout those years, she helped lead her school to three SOL Championships (2021, 2022, 2024), a District Championship (2022), and State Championship appearance (2022).

Atehortua arrives in Winston-Salem after her freshman year with the UCLA Bruins, appearing in seven games and totaling 91 minutes.

Prior to her stint with the Bruins, the Trumbull, Conn.-native played club soccer with NYSC and has been a member of the U.S. Youth National Teams from U-15 through U-19 levels. Additionally, the midfielder has attended several training camps with the U-17 Colombian National Team and was most recently selected to the U.S. U-19/U-18 training camp in March of 2025.

Ranked the No. 18 recruit in the TopDrawerSoccer Class of 2025, she competed in the Girls Academy League while attending IMG Academy during her junior and senior years. While there, Atehortua led the team in goals and helped the squad to a Southeast Conference title.

The Deacs round out the transfer group with forward Kaitlyn Sasadeusz, who will join the Deacs for her senior year following a three-year stint at University of San Francisco. Across those years, Sasadeusz totaled over 2,000 minutes, eight goals and 22 points. During both her sophomore and junior season, the 2025 All-WCC Honorable Mention led her team in multiple offensive categories.

In the 2025-26 season, Sasadeusz accounted for over a third of her team’s goals over the entire season, and 30 percent of the squads’ total points.

From Head Coach Tony da Luz:

On Taylor Maxwell: “Taylor is an athletic defender, who can cover ground and is excellent 1v1. She can play effectively in a central role or as an outside back, and her ACC experience will strengthen our backline.”
On Sofia Atehortua: “Sofia is an 8/10 center midfielder positionally, extremely technical and has a special final pass. She likes to shoot and arrive in the box to finish and brings vision and spontaneity to our attack.”
On Kaitlyn Sasadeusz: “Kaitlyn is a perfect fit in our high quality frontline. She is a versatile attacking player with speed and instincts for scoring and can open the game with 1v1 ability or fast runs behind.”