The Kent State soccer team announced the signing of seven incoming freshmen to its 2006 roster Thursday.

“We are very excited with the group of young ladies we have coming in this fall,” Kent State coach Rob Marinaro said in a press release. “They will be great representatives of our program on and off the field. They will fit in well in what we are looking for both in a player and as a person.”

The first addition to the team is midfielder/defender Jackie Barath from Strongsville, Ohio. She played for the Ohio team in 2003 and competed for the Cleveland Futbol Club.

Beth Diederich comes to the Flashes from Pittsburgh where she earned MVP and defensive player of the year awards in her senior year of high school as a defender, as well as named to the Kick-off Classic All-Tournament team twice.

Brittany Emrick joins as a striker from Clinton, Ohio, where she was a four-year letterwinner and recipient of all-conference honors for three straight years.

Midfielder Lauren Evans was an honor roll student at Lutheran West High School and named to the All-Greater Cleveland and All-Metropolitan Conference teams.

Megan Hill played many positions while at Penn Hills High School, including defender, midfield and forward. She was the team’s leading scorer and received all-section honors.

Emily Reno comes from Cincinnati, Ohio, where she played as a striker and earned numerous honors including first team All-City, All-GGCL First Team and team MVP.

The final addition to the Flashes is forward Andrea “LA” Thoma from Alliance, Ohio. She set a school record by scoring six goals in a single game against Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy and became a Tri-County First Team player.

— Amanda Vasil