April 1, 2009

Seven student-athletes have signed letters of intent with the Eastern Washington University women's soccer team, head coach George Hageage announced. The signees will join the team for the 2009 season.

Amanda Hall is from Bothell, Wash., and played her varsity soccer from 2006-08 at Inglemoor High School. Hall is a current member of Crossfire Premier '90 and helped lead the team to the WSYSA quarterfinals in 2007 and 2008. That team is coached by Steve Crum, formerly a coach with the University of Idaho. Hall also attended the Super Y National ODP camp in 2006 and 2007.

"Amanda offers a tremendous amount of pace and athleticism," Hageage said. "She is versatile and can play up front or in the midfield."

Lauren Conley will arrive in Cheney from Puyallup (Wash.) High School. She also played at and attended Bellarmine Preparatory School. Conley was voted Most Valuable Player of the Super Y national finals in 2007 and attended the Super Y national Olympic Development Program (ODP) from 2007-08. She is also a member of the Crossfire Premier '90 club.

"Lauren is dominant in the air and has a wonderful ability to put herself in an area to finish," Hageage said. "She will be used in the center of the pitch and up front."

Melissa von der Hofen is from Lake Stevens, Wash., and played her high school soccer at Archbishop Murphy High School. There, she helped the Wildcats to four consecutive top-three finishes at the 2A state tournament, including the school's first state title in 2006. That year, von der Hofen was named the Most Valuable Player of the title match. She also earned first team Associated Press all-state accolades in 2007.

"Melissa can score goals or set them up," Hageage said. "She has a knack of being around the ball and does a nice job of switching the point of attack."

Lauren Jacobsen is finishing up her time at Lynnwood (Wash.) High School, where she earned All-4A WesCo South first team accolades in 2006 and second team honors in 2008. She was in the Washington ODP state pool in 2005 and the Super-Y ODP camp in 2006 in addition to serving as team captain for the NWN 90 Red from 2007-09 (and playing for the club since 2001).

"Lauren's work rate and aggressiveness makes her tough to play against," Hageage said. "She is talented at holding the ball and her ability to also play in the back will allow us to be more flexible in our system of play."

Tessa Locke is from just across the border in Langley, B.C. The defender is attending Langley Secondary School and is currently a member of both the Vancouver Whitecaps prospect team and the Chilliwack Panthers club. Locke was also named the Most Outstanding Player of the Langley Girls Soccer Association for 2005-06.

"Tessa will give us another athletic defender much in the mold of Chelsey Hannesson (fellow Langley native and rising senior player at EWU)," Hageage said. "Her abilities will allow us to go back to a 3-back system if needed."

Kasey McNeill is coming off a 2008 season that saw her claim unanimous Big 9 Conference Player of the Year accolades while playing for the Southridge High School Suns. The native of Kennewick, Wash., also earned first team All-State accolades. The forward was named first team all-league in both her junior and senior seasons and second team as a sophomore.

"Kasey is very fast with a good work rate and an ability to score goals in numerous ways," Hageage said. "She reminds me of (outgoing Eagle senior and Kennewick native) Jocylen Bement and will allow us to add another player up front with the speed to get behind defenses."

Jamie Walker is a goalkeeper from Graham Kapowsin High School who earned first team All-South Puget Sound League accolades the past two seasons. In addition to being named Most Valuable Player of her soccer team those two campaigns, she did so in the sport of lacrosse in 2006 and 2007, as well. The Graham, Wash., native was named the GKHS Academic Athlete of the Year in 2006.

"Jamie is a talented, athletic goalkeeper who will continue to get better," Hageage said. "She makes good decisions distributing the ball and has tremendous punting ability."