Here's something that may come as a surprise: Division I women's soccer teams are only allowed to have 14 total scholarships. And Division I men's soccer teams are only allowed to have 9.9 total scholarships. (Learn more about soccer scholarships.)

What does this mean?

Even though a typical DI soccer team may have 30 players on its roster, only the equivalent of 14 total college soccer scholarships may be given. This means that if 20 players are on equal scholarships, they will each receive a 70% scholarship. This can make soccer recruitment a difficult process.

The picture becomes even bleaker when you take into consideration the financial resources that many college soccer teams have at their disposal. Many aren't able to fund all 14 scholarships. So, you may very well encounter a team that only has the equivalent of 8 full scholarships.

Okay, so that's the tough news on college soccer scholarships. But here's the good news, by doing a little research about the colleges on your list, you can find out what resources are available at each school.

If you ask, some college coaches will be very forthright with you about how many scholarships they have to divide among their players. This is good information to have, because you can start to factor it into your outlook for each college.

Before you start asking coaches willy-nilly about their scholarships, you have to build trust with them. Start today by sending an email that doesn't even mention scholarships.

Instead, focus on describing specifically what you like at that college. Show the coach that you're serious about his school and that building a relationship with him means a lot to you. That you're not just out there fishing for scholarship bucks.