Arizona State University head women's soccer coach Kevin Boyd today announced that Jessica DeLeon, Ali Doller, Chandler Morris and Sarah Van Horn have signed national letters of intent to study and play soccer at Arizona State.
Boyd, who has guided the Sun Devils to back-to-back NCAA appearances the last two seasons, is excited about the potential this year's signing class has to help ASU continue its climb among the nation's elite programs.
"This is an excellent group of players coming in to join the Sun Devil Soccer family," said Boyd, who will be entering his fifth season at ASU in 2011.
"It is a smaller class as they were each specifically brought in to fill holes left by graduating players. This is our first class where we have moved our recruiting from bringing in large numbers to "build our program" into recruiting to "replace" players. All four of these players will help our program with a couple having the potential to have a major impact in the years to come."
DeLeon is a local standout from Thunderbird High School where she earned First-Team All-Region honors, Second-Team All-State honors and was named to the All-Metro Phoenix Team in addition to being selected team MVP. DeLeon, who has been a participant on Arizona's ODP squads, has national team experience having been a part of the Trinidad & Tobago U-17 National Team in 2008. DeLeon has been instrumental in helping her club teams to state titles each of the last seven years - Sereno 93 (six straight titles from 2003-09, U-11-U-16) and Del Sol 93 (2010, U-17).
"Jess is an outstanding center midfielder," said Boyd. "She has vision, touch, the ability to deliver the ball in a variety of different ways, can score on the dribble or from distance, and reads the play exceptionally well defensively. We expect Jess to come in and challenge for a starting position immediately."
The all-time goal scorer (108 career goals) at Tempe's Marcos de Niza High School, Doller has been named to the 5A All-State Team each of the last three years. In 2010, Doller, who also holds the single-game school record for most goals scored, was also selected to the All-Southeast Valley Team and was named the Pima Region Player of the Year.
As a member of the Arizona Sting Futbol Club Doller was named her team's Offensive Player of the Year in 2009 before earning outright Player of the Year honors in 2010. Doller was the top goal scorer in the Far West Region during the 2009 fall season and was named to the ECNL National Championship All-Tournament Team in 2010. Doller's ODP experience includes playing with the Regional Team in 2007 and participating in an Invitational Camp in 2009.
"Ali is a goal scorer plain and simple," said Boyd.
"She has that innate ability to score goals. She is a strong, aggressive, fast, physical player who can strike with both feet. She can score in every possible way: long shot, volley, head, dribble, any way that results in the ball ending up in the net. She is exactly what our program needs right now as she has the ability to be a `next level' striker."
Morris will be coming to ASU from Corona, Calif., where her skills in the net helped lead her Santiago High School squad to three consecutive Big 8 league titles in addition to appearances in the CIF state quarterfinals in 2009 and the finals in 2010.
Morris' play has been equally impressive with her Arsenal FC club team as she accumulated 12 combined shutouts in helping her squad to first-place finishes in league play each of the last two seasons. Morris, who has previously earned All-Area honors at Santiago in addition to serving as team captain in 2010, has also earned her school's Scholar-Athlete Award each of the last three years.
"Chandler is very, very athletic," said Boyd. "We saw her at our camp three years ago and have tracked her ever since. She has good feet, can leap, and finds a way to get on every ball. She will push our keepers immediately and will develop into a great keeper over time. We are excited to have her join us."
Van Horn hails from San Antonio, Texas, where she had a big hand in leading her Ronald Reagan High School squad to back-to-back district titles the last two seasons, including a berth in the 5-A State semifinals in 2009 when she was named to the state championship All-Tournament Team.
Twice named First-Team All-Region and First Team All-District, Van Horn, who accounted for 38 goals and 35 assists the last two seasons, was most recently named All-State in 2010 in addition to earning a spot on the San Antonio Express-News All-Area SuperTeam.
As a member of the Classics Elite Soccer Academy, Van Horn helped her squad to one state runner-up finish and a pair of semifinalist finishes. Van Horn also excels in the classroom as she has been class president for the last 3 years at her high school and is a National Honor Society student. She has been accepted to take classes at the Barrett Honors College when she begins her studies at ASU.
"Sarah is a smart, technical, athletic attacking player," said Boyd. "She has the speed to play wide up top and also the technical and tactical ability to play central either high or withdrawn. Her greatest trait is her ability to get into good positions and finish. She is calm and composed in front of goal allowing her to pick her spots. We expect her to challenge for a spot immediately."