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HOUSTON – HBU head women's soccer coach Misty Jones signed five new student-athletes to National Letters of Intent to join her program on Wednesday.

Ashtyn Franks is a 5-6 goalkeeper from nearby Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu where she played for coach Kyle Westerberg. She was a two-year captain and letterwinner at Barbers Hill for a program that started in 2017 and was named district goalkeeper of the year, first team all-district and academic all-district. Franks has played club soccer for the Dash Developmental Academy, working closely with goalkeeping coach Justin Fite, and throughout her club career has maintained a goals against average of 0.78.

"We first saw Ashtyn at camp and were quite impressed with her work rate," said Jones. "She is a dedicated and intense goalkeeper that plays much bigger than her size. She is quick off her line and likes to play aggressively. We are excited to add her depth to our goalkeepers."

Caroline Valadez hails from Kingwood where she has attended Kingwood Park High School, playing under coach Jess White.  A 5-8 defender, Valadez is a first team all-district performer and a three-year letterwinner. She was also selected academic all-district and won a district championship in track & field. She plays club soccer for Challenge 99 ECNL and coach Chris Maravelli.
 
"Caroline is a calm and composed central defender," added Jones. "She does a great job of connecting passes and reading the game as well as attacking balls in the air."
 
Hailing from Austin, Caroline Gillispie is a 5-8 defender from Westwood High School where she has been a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter for coach Malcolm Framjee. Gillispie was named the region and district defender of the year as a junior and has three times been named academic all-district. She has played club succer for the Lonestar Soccer Club and coach Peter McCann, helping the club reach the national tournament finals in 2016.

"Caroline is a hard working defender who is always striving to get better," Jones stated. "She is a good 1v1 defender who can be hard to beat. She likes to attack out of the back, which fits into our style of play nicely."
 
Julia Suarez will join the Huskies from Deer Park High School outside Houston where she is a four-year letterwinner for coach Jose Saavedra. A 5-5 forward, Suarez has helped the Deer to area and bi-district championships. She has played club for the Albion Hurricanes FC and coach Tom Morrill.
 
"Julia likes to scores goals," said Jones. "She is a technical forward who can play with her back to goal and link up passes. She will add some nice offensive punch to our attack."
 
Talin Rizo is a 5-5 midfielder from Johnson High School in San Antonio where she has been a four-year started for coach Kara Stracener. Thus far in her high school career, Rizo has netted 18 goals en route to multiple all-district selections to go along with all-region and all-academic honors while also being named female athlete of the year for 2016-17. She has played club for coach Owen Collie and Classics Elite 99G ECNL, reaching nationals in both 2016 and 2017.
 
 "Talin is an extremely versatile athlete," Jones added. "She will find herself getting most of her minutes with us in the midfield, however, she can play anywhere on the field. She possesses a great soccer mind and uncanny ability to make things happen on the field. We anticipate that she will immediately impact our attack."
 
These five signees join Ashley Arnes and Bryce Reynolds who enrolled for the spring semester to join the Huskies for the 2018 season, giving HBU seven new student-athletes in its recruiting class.
 
"I would like to thank Chris Dodd for his role in recruiting these fantastic student athletes," Jones continued. "This class (including Ashley Arnes and Bryce Reynolds) exemplifies what we look for in our student athletes: dedicated in the classroom, dominant on the soccer field and displaying the upmost character. This recruiting class will make an impact at HBU both on and off the field."