LA GRANDE, Ore. – Amber Nielsen of Fife High School and Alexis Smith of Post Falls High School have signed Letter of Intents to play soccer for EOU in 2014. Nielsen and Smith are the first signees for head coach Jennifer Simonetti's 2014 recruiting class.

"We are very excited about our recruiting class for 2014, and have brought in a lot of players with the potential to fight for starting roles and serious playing time in their first year here," said head coach Jennifer Simonetti. "We are excited to bring in the talent and experience they all possess to help us improve on our 5th place finish in the CCC last year to a title!"

Nielson, a 5'7" goalkeeper out of Puyallup, Wash., comes to EOU from Fife High School where she was a two year team captain. Nielson was named the teams' Most Valuable Player her sophomore, junior and senior seasons. In her career, she recorded 24 shutouts. During her senior season, Nielson only allowed three goals in league action and led the team to a 13-1 record.

In her last three seasons, Fife High School qualified for the 2A State Tournament. They advanced to the quarterfinals in 2011 and 2013, and Nielson earned All-League Honors her sophomore, junior and senior seasons. During her senior year, Nielson was named First Team Goalkeeper as well as Goalkeeper of the Year.

"Amber is an extremely talented goal keeper with quick feet, solid hands, shot stopping abilities and a natural attitude of hard work and leadership," said Simonetti. "She will create a great competition between herself and our returning goal keepers for the starting spot in 2014."

Not only does Nielson succeed on the field but also off, as she has been on the Academic honor roll all four years of high school.

Smith, a 5'8" defender from Post Falls, Idaho, joins EOU after a successful high school career at Post Falls High School. During her time at Post Falls High School, Smith helped her team to the Idaho Regional Soccer Championship and a second place finish in the Idaho State Soccer Championships during her junior year.

Her freshman year, Smith was named IEL 5A Newcomer of the Year. The next three seasons for Smith, she was named IEL 5A Defensive Player of the Year. Smith was named IEL 5A Team all four years of high school and was named All League North Idaho First team as a sophomore, junior and senior. She was named All Idaho State First Team her junior season.

"Lexi is extremely versatile on the soccer field coming into the college game," said Simonetti. "She has the speed, technical ability, and field awareness to play anywhere on the pitch, but we are looking at her mostly as a center back and a center midfielder. We are just excited to see what she brings to pre-season and where she is most dangerous for our program in the fall!"

Along with the success on the soccer pitch, Smith succeeded in the class room as she accumulated a 3.6 GPA in her four years of high school. She was also a four year varsity letter recipient in basketball.