A talented crew of 12 newcomers will combine with 10 returnees for Coach Gary Akin's Murray State women's soccer squad for the upcoming season that begins in just three short weeks.
The Lady Aggie signing crew includes a pair of freshman goalkeepers led by Madill signee Jimena Guevara, who Akin was able to pluck from the Murray backyard and should immediately contend for time.
Mia King is another new goalkeeping prospect that hails from England.
Big things are expected from incoming freshman Myah Evans from Wylie, Texas, who led her high school team deep into the playoffs last year and will be a big part of the offense at a forward spot.
Another forward prospect is Duncan's Kaylee Foster, who will also be part of the school's presidential scholar program as well as being a gifted athlete who is speedy and has a nose for the ball. Fellow Duncan native Hanna Brew will fill a midfield position and should be in line for early action after being on campus all summer while taking summer classes.
The Lady Aggies have a unique high-profile newcomer in Faith Wylie from Dripping Springs, Texas, who was a member of the United States Women's National Deaf Team. She scored the winning goal in the Deaf Olympics in Brazil in May during the USA gold medal triumph. She comes from a powerhouse high school program in Texas and Coach Akin is already putting things in placed for several visual signals this fall.
Ardmore's Aiden Manning joins the squad as a physical 5-10 midfielder/defender along with another local product in Ada graduate Angelica Cruz, who will step in as a midfielder learning the Lady Aggie system.
Kiley Keene will be an outside back from Oklahoma Class 6A contender Edmond Santa Fe with Kylie Thompson out of Westmoore expecting to make a fast impact.
Coach Akin is also very high on Aimee Steele from Newcastle, England, who he describes as a very talented player that plays forward and feels will drive the Murray State offensive attack. Lily Humes is another from England product that will play defensive back.
"This is the largest recruiting class I've had, but pretty much every year in junior college you have to replace half your team," Akin commented. "It depends on how they compete when they get in, but out of those signees I look for six, seven or eight of them to get starting minutes or significant minutes at least. We have some tough sophomores they must compete with, which is a good problem to have. Three or four of our sophomores will be great leaders for us. Jordan Medlock is probably the best defender that I have coached. She will run our defense.
"Most of the girls will start showing up next week for practice and we have a very short preseason. We have one scrimmage on August 14th and the regular season starts right after that. By the time we get everyone in we've got about a week to be ready. We just hope they come in good shape, which is challenging because the heat we've had is unforgiving."
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