Van Zanten was raised in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, one of three daughters born to Priscilla and Kent Van Zanten. Her father played college football at Illinois Wesleyan; her sister Brianna played college soccer for Case Western Reserve; and her sister Kiki played for Notre Dame before being drafted by the Chicago Red Stars.[1] Van Zanten began playing soccer when she was two years old but also played other sports growing up including gymnastics and basketball.[2]
Van Zanten attended Stevenson High School, where she was named her high school conference's player of the year in 2022.[1] She played club soccer for Chicago FC United before joining Eclipse Select SC, where she helped win the ECNL under-18/19 national championship in 2021.[1][3]
Florida State Seminoles
Van Zanten received Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) all-freshman honors as she helped the Florida State Seminoles go undefeated in the 2023 season.[1] She debuted off the bench and assisted Beata Olsson for the season's opening goal against Texas A&M.[4] She scored her first college goal in the last seconds of a 3–3 draw with then-No. 1-ranked North Carolina.[5] She consistently started for the Seminoles by the postseason and was named to all-tournament team of the ACC tournament. Florida State kept clean sheets through the first five rounds of the NCAA championship before defeating Stanford 5–1 in the final.[1]
Van Zanten received her first call-up to Jamaica's senior team in May 2024.[8] She debuted for Jamaica on June 4, 2024, coming on for her Florida State teammate Jody Brown in the 77th minute of a 4–0 friendly loss to Brazil.[9]