Women’s Soccer Signs Four for 2006

SYRACUSE, N.Y.- Syracuse University women’s soccer head coach Patrick Farmer has announced the signing of four recruits to join the Orange in 2006. New to the Orange in ’06 will be Chelsea Berry (Lowville, N.Y.), Eilza Bennett-Hattan (Burke, Va.), Samantha Hirsh (West Orange, N.J.) and Tessa MacDougall (Surrey, British Columbia). Those four along with red-shirt freshman Sara Grimsgaard (Eatontown, N.Y.) and Katherine Peck (New Hartford, N.Y.) will join SU’s 16 returners from 2005 to form the 2006 Orange fleet.

Berry is a six-time New York state track champion in the 100, 200 and 400 meter dash in addition to the long and triple jump. She scored 95 career goals and had 67 assists in four years as a forward at Lowville Academy High School. A captain of the soccer team for her sophomore, junior and senior seasons, Berry scored 33 goals and had 19 assists in her senior campaign.

“Chelsea will provide a significant weapon capable of penetrating opponent defenses with and without the ball,” said Farmer. “She will be one of the fastest players in the BIG EAST and will provide flank service for others as well as score goals herself. This is an element we have needed to add to the team and Chelsea will compete for a starting role right from the start.”

Bennett-Hattan is Super Y League National ODP Camp selection and has played soccer for four seasons at Robinson High School in Burke, Va. The goalkeeper will play her senior season this spring. In her first three seasons, she started 17 games and allowed just nine goals and made 89 saves. She has also recorded nine shutout victories. Her soccer honors include Washington Post All-MET Second Team in 2005 and First Team All-Northern Region in 2005. She was also a member of the 2005 First Team All-Patriot District and Second Team All-State squads.

“Eliza is an imposing goalkeeper who will compete for the starting role right away as a freshman,” Farmer said. “Her club team (RFC Rovers) plays at a very high level and her experience with RFC and the ODP camp will help her acclimate quickly to the college level.”

Hirsh is another goalkeeper slated to compete for the Orange in 2006. Like Bennett-Hattan, Hirsh was a Super Y League National ODP Camp selection. Twice she has been named First Team Colonial Hills Conference and was named to the second-team in 2003 while playing for the Montclair Kimberley Academy.

“Samantha is an excellent technical goalkeeper who will compete as a freshman for the starting position,” Farmer said. “The staff was very impressed with Samantha during her week at our positional camp last summer and she will be involved in a very open competition for the starting goalkeeper spot vacated by Emily Kowalczyk’s graduation.”

MacDougall was a member of the 2005 Canada Games Gold Medal team as a striker. In 2004, she was a member of the silver medal squad at the Canadian Nationals. This past year she scored 17 goals in 17 games for her club team (BC Provincial team). The forward was the captain of her high school team for her senior season.

“Tessa is a goal scoring striker that can play centrally in our 4-3-3 system and compete for a starting role as a freshman,” Farmer said. “She has excellent experience in the British Columbia provincial program which is presently the strongest in Canada.”

Farmer feels that this recruiting class is one that can fill the needs for 2006. The 2005 Syracuse Orange finished 4-12-4 and earned the first BIG EAST Tournament berth for SU since 2001. The team also won the program’s 100^th game all-time when it beat South Florida on October 23.

“We feel this recruiting class brings in players who are capable of competing for starting slots immediately,” he said. “We feel we have a really strong group to add to the young 2005 group who qualified for the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time in four years.”

Syracuse University Athletics

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