Feb. 15, 2008

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Kelsey Robson of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada signed a National Letter of Intent with the Lady Tigers soccer team. Robson rounds out the 2008 class that includes two Tennessee natives, five Canadians, one player from Michigan, and one from Missouri.

She plays club for the Northwest United in the Major League, coached by Dean Cordeiro. Robson and her team placed second at Provincials last season. While playing for the Drillers U18 in the Minor League, she earned silver at the 2007 Provincials.

While playing for the Edmonton Force in the Super Y League, Robson was selected to the Super Y National Team.

Kelsey currently plays on the Alberta Provincial Team and is a member of the U20 Canadian National Pool.

Robson is the daughter of Philip and Gillian Robson. She has an older brother, Aaron. For the last six years she has earned honors with distinction and is enrolled in an international baccalaureate program.

"Kelsey Robson is a great addition to our squad. We feel that she will come in and compete immediately for a spot in the back," said Head Coach Brooks Monaghan. "One of Kelsey's greatest strengths is her work rate. Every coach or player that we have talked to about Kelsey says that she's the most fit soccer player that they know. She is a tireless worker, extremely competitive, and a hard nose defender. She can play on either the left or right side. We are very excited about Kelsey joining our squad."

The 2008 class is made up of nine athletes stemming from Canada, Michigan, Missouri and Tennessee.

"As a staff we are ecstatic about this group. We have done a lot of research on them; not only as players but the character that these ladies bring, we feel that they are going to fit right in with the group of ladies that we have returning for the fall. We feel that this is a class that each of the ladies coming in have the ability to contribute right away," added Monaghan. "That is very exciting, because rarely do you sign a whole class and feel that strongly about each individual coming in. Obviously, we have some big shoes to fill from the players that graduated this fall, but I do feel that the class coming in will be able to fill the roles left behind.

"What we have tried to do is to find players to replace the ones that have graduated. If we are right in our instinct about these ladies then that is not going to be a problem. The players coming in are very talented and we feel that they help us to continue to move in the right direction."

"We have five Canadians coming in that we feel are the top players out of Alberta. They are all in the Under 20 Canadian National Pool, which says a lot about them already. We believe that we have the best local player coming in. We also feel that we have one of the best players coming from Missouri. At the end of the day we are really excited about the future of this program and the youth of this team."

2008 Women's Soccer Signees (alphabetical order)

Jordan Boyle (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
Carly Bykerk (Caledonia, Mich.)
Elizabeth Hildebrandt (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Julia Ignacio (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
Kelsey Robson (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
Tara Telford (St. Albert, Alberta, Canada)
Heather Trotter (Memphis, Tenn.)
Elizabeth Simonin Lee's Summit, Mo.)
Heidi Unland (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.)