The soccer team is adding more talent to the 2011 SEC championship roster.
After receiving nine letters of intent on the first day of the signing period, associate coach Amy Berbary said the incoming class will have an immediate effect.
"This class has instant impact potential and gives us a large amount of depth after losing four seniors that contributed significant minutes to our NCAA Tournament team last year," Berbary said. "These nine signees represent another great example of our efforts to continually recruit at a national level, as well as sign the top kids in the Southeast, which will help us maintain the tradition of being an elite team in the SEC."
The Tigers graduated four key players in midfielder Katy Frierson, forward Lydia Townsend and defenders Julia King and Heather Havron.
"We were looking to provide some kids that have the possibility to make an instant impact on our team as well as give us some depth," Berbary said.
Recruit Alexa Allen from Buford, Ga., is ranked in the regional top-five by topdrawersoccer.com
"It's very exciting to get even closer and closer to actually being on campus, and it is just a great feeling to know that your going to the school that were the SEC champions," Allen said. "I was looking at a bunch of other schools, especially in the SEC, but there is just something about Auburn and the Auburn family and coach Hoppa and coach Amy that just made me fall in love with Auburn."
Two other recruits, Kala Faulkner and Alyse Scott, also signed from Georgia.
Playing under coach Philip Broome at Milton High School in Alpharetta, Faulkner was part of the 2011 regional championship team.
Scott plays at The Walker School in Marietta, where she earned two-time captain of the varsity soccer team and allowed just seven goals all season as goalie.
Two signees from Texas, Logan Beal of Plano and Antoinette Bennett of Arlington, both play for the Dallas Texans Red 94 club team.
Beal was the 2011 captain and leading scorer at Plano West Senior High School, and Bennett was part of the 2010 and 2011 North Texas State Cup champions for her club team.
With recruits from outside the region, Berbary said scouting starts early.
"The process usually starts around their sophomore year of high school, and we kind of track them and get fairly early commitments over those couple of years so they are able to sign and we watch them play in tournaments," Berbary said. "We try to start at home because the Southeast has some very good soccer players. We start at home first and then we go national."
Natalie Donaldson is the only other nonresident signing. From Westminster, Calif., she was part of the 2012 All-Star Team and the ESPN Rise Dream Team.
Haley Gerken, Alicia Hereford and Sophie Simantel are in-state signees.
Gerken plays for Oak Mountain High School in Birmingham and was part of the 2011 North-South All-Star game and the 2012 Wendy's High School Heisman winner.
Hereford, from Huntsville, earned 2009 best defensive player, and Simantel plays for the Mobile Soccer Club and has led the team in scoring the past four seasons.
The new recruits will begin at Auburn in the fall, allowing the signess a few months to continue to develop at the high school level.
With new talent from which to draw, Berbary said the soccer staff was well prepared in the recruiting process.
"We have waited for this day for a long time," Berbary said. "Our staff has watched this class mature athletically throughout the recruiting process, and we are extremely pleased with the outcome."
*Content has been changed from original publication.
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