BATON ROUGE- Despite having a little over a month to assemble a quality recruiting class after being hired on Dec. 18, new LSU soccer coach George Fotopoulos used all his resources, announcing seven top-level signees Tuesday afternoon.
Rachel Cohen of Lafayette, La., Robyn DesOrmeaux of Carencro, La., Katie Calvin of St. Petersburg, Fla., Abby Atwell of Winston-Salem, N.C., Kasey Dexter of Anodver, Mass., Jenny DeHay of Aiea, Hawaii, and Laura Klatter of Geneva, Ill., all signed letters of intent to join the LSU soccer program in the fall of 2000.
“I feel very blessed to be able to get the players we were able to get,” said Fotopoulos. “I’m glad that these young ladies believed enough in the direction of this program to commit to LSU. I have no hesitation in saying that any of these players we’ve signed could have gone to any top program in the country and I’m excited that they’ve chosen LSU.”
Staying within the state of Louisiana, Fotopoulos received letters of intent from Rachel Cohen and Robyn DesOrmeaux.
Cohen, a midfielder for St. Thomas More High School, was the state MVP in 1999 and set a school record with 34 goals. She currently has better-than-100 goals for her career. She was an All-State and All-District selection a year ago while leading St. Thomas More to the state title.
DesOrmeaux is considered the top goalkeeper to come out of Louisiana and one of the top keepers in the Southeast. She has been a three-year All-District selection at Carenco High School and a member of the Louisiana Olympic Development Program. Last year she was the goalkeeper for the Region III Olympic Development Program team that participated in a 12-day European exhibition tour.
In going out of state, Fotopoulos was able to lure one of the top players out of his native Florida in Katie Calvin. Calvin netted 140 goals and 80 assists in her career at Clearwater Central Catholic and was name the St. Petersburg Times Player of the Year in 1999. Calvin led her team with 100 points in 1999 as Clearwater Central Catholic was ranked sixth in the nation.
Abby Atwell comes to LSU after a solid career at Mount Tabor High School where she was an All-State, All-Region and All-Conference defender. Atwell was named Player of the Year in her Region in her junior season. She has been a seven-year member of the North Carolina Olympic Development Program.
Kasey Dexter, a midfielder/defender, led the Merrimack Valley League in scoring last year for Andover High School. Dexter was a First-Team All-State and All-Conference selection in 1999 and Andover won the Merrimack Valley League title in each of her four seasons.
Jenny DeHay has been a First-Team Interscholastic League of Honolulu selection three of the last four years and earned All-State honors in 1997 and 1999.
Laura Klatter is preparing for her senior season at Geneva High School after earning All-Conference, All-Sectional and All-Area honors in 1999. Klatter has been a five-year member of the Illinois Olympic Development Program and helped her club team to the Illinois state title in 1999.
Fotopoulos indicated that additional signees may come in the weeks to come.