MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama soccer head coach Richard Moodie announced Thursday six fall signees for the 2019 season.

Added to the roster are: Catherine Baggett, Anna Brunner, Abey Nottingham, Brianna Pope, Megan Snider and Maria Verde.

"This is the first class we've really had the opportunity to dive into and pick from the talent that was there," Moodie said. "We're really excited about the players we've got, both in state and out of state. We've been able to pick up a wide variety of players from the top levels here in America."

Catherine Baggett – Defender/Forward
McGill-Toolen High School
Mobile, Ala.
Member of four straight state semifinal teams (2015-18), including one state championship (2017) and a runner-up finish (2018)… Has started every game since eighth grade… Has scored 14 goals in her career and team has recorded 65 shutouts while at center back… Nine-year member of Gulf Coast Rangers club team… Led team to Alabama state cup championship in 2015, runner-up finishes in 2016 and 2017, and semifinal appearances in 2015 and 2018… Named team MVP 2015-18… 2017 Region III pool player.

Moodie on Baggett: "Everyone locally will know who Catherine is. She won the state with McGill-Toolen and plays club soccer with Gulf Coast Rangers. She also had the opportunity to play in the WPSL this summer with a team that had a lot of South Alabama players on it. She can play as either a center back or a center forward – she's kind of a utility player – but she's a young lady that is a hard worker, expects nothing less than 100 percent of herself every time. She'll bring a lot of energy and intensity to practice. There's no doubt she can play at the college level. She is physically able to do it. If she can adapt to the speed of the game, she can have an impact on the squad."

Anna Brunner – Goalkeeper
Spain Park High School
Birmingham, Ala.
Four-year letterwinner at Spain Park and for Alabama FC of the Elite Clubs National League.

Moodie on Brunner: "Anna is a goalkeeper that has been able to be on campus and perform at camps. She's going to come in with a lot of upside to her game. By no means do we expect her to come in steal a starting position from a veteran like Laurie Graves or Justice Stanford, but she'll figure it out her first year. She'll be someone that comes in each day at practice and pushes players to be better. She's good with her feet, which is something we struggled with when we first got here. She certainly fits in with our style of play of building from the back. She's a goalkeeper that can make that big save and win you a game. The future is bright for her, she just has to get in and get settled as soon as possible."

Abey Nottingham – Defender
North Port High School
North Port, Fla.
Earned varsity letters in soccer and track… Led Bobcats to district title in 2016… Advanced to regionals in track in 2015… Member of the team's 4x400 relay team… Played three years for West Florida Flames club team.

Moodie on Nottingham: "Abey is a young lady that we were able to recruit pretty early in the process. She's an exciting player to watch. She's the epitome of a domestic player; she's an athlete. She can play as a full back, center back or a winger. She can get up and down the lines and is very aggressive. She has the ability to not only join attacks but she's very good at getting back. She was one of the first 2019s we were able to get committed and she has a bright future for us here."

Brianna Pope – Forward
Escambia High School
Pensacola, Fla.
Named team MVP twice and earned Golden Boot Award… Member of Gulf Coast Texans club team… Texans finished first in the Region B Premier league in 2015 and 2016, and were champions of the 2016 Disney qualifier… Also finished in the top 16 of the Florida State Cup.

Moodie on Pope: "We just got back from watching her at Disney, and when you go to these showcases, you always hope that your player does well at the tournament so you and other people can see them do well, and I thought she was, if not the, one of the best players there. She scores goals, she's busy with her movement and is comparable to Kory Dixon, with speed, size and demeanor. She plays in Pensacola for David Kemp so we know she has a good pedigree of soccer. She's exciting to watch and when we watch her play, it's very similar to Kory. If you look at our season this past year, what we were missing was a Kory Dixon. To have two of those players on either side of the field is very exciting."

Megan Snider – Defender
Georgia Connections Academy
Savannah, Ga.
Scored seven goals and had 12 assists for Georgia Connections Academy… Earned 2017 Hurricane Award and 2014 Trevor Baker "Tough as Nails" Award… Played seven seasons for SSA Savannah United… Won four straight state titles from 2013-16… Named 2015 Player of the Year.

Moodie on Snider: "Megan is a center back and a young lady we've had the pleasure of watching for the last year and a half. She plays like a European center back but she has the athleticism of a domestic center back, so it's the best of both worlds for us when you look at our style of play. Having Hannah Godfrey graduate is a massive loss, but when we watched Megan play, she offers so much as a freshman, it's hard to see where that ability ends. She fits what we're trying to do right away. We're ecstatic that she chose to come here."

Maria Verde – Midfielder/Defender
Homeschooled
Mobile, Ala.
Played three years for Alabama FC out of Birmingham… Qualified for the ECNL playoffs on two occasions.

Moodie on Verde: "Maria plays on the same ECNL team as Anna Brunner so she's had the opportunity to play at the best level in America. She's very meticulous with what she does. She's very creative on the ball. You can compare her to a Tiina Trutsi in a lot of ways. For Maria, her biggest fear was always handling the speed of play, but she's playing at a level now at ECNL that she can handle the tempo and physicality. She can pick a pass, she can be that conductor in the middle of the park and make the ball move. She just needs game time to get that confidence and get to that point."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Upper 90 Club, the soccer specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All gifts to the Upper 90 Club go directly to support the South Alabama soccer program. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/upper90

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