May 1, 2004

The Notre Dame women’s soccer team recently completed its signee class for the 2004 season when Finland national team forward Jannica Tjeder (pronounced “cheddar”) signed a national letter-of-intent. Tjeder joins five earlier signees during the soccer letter-of-intent period – forwards Amanda Cinalli (Maple Heights, Ohio), Kerri Hanks (Allen, Texas) and Susan Pinnick (South Bend, Ind.), midfielder Ashley Jones (Westlake Village, Calif.) and goalkeeper Lauren Karas (Flower Mound, Texas) – to give the Irish a 2004 signee class this is expected to rank among the best in the nation.

“Jannica will add a different dimension to our forward play,” says fifth-year Notre Dame head coach Randy Waldrum. “She is extremely skillful with the ball and her European experiences enable her to read the game tactically at a very high level. Her composure with the ball and her vision on the field will be a tremendous asset to our team.

“With the addition of Jannica, we now have signed four players who are standouts with their respective youth national teams, plus two regional-team players. It all adds up to possibly the best recruiting class in the nation and we fully expect these players to combine with our great group of returnees for a 2004 team that will contend for the national championship.”

Tjeder is set to become the second Finland native to play for the Notre Dame women’s soccer program, following four-year All-America midfielder and 2000 national player of the year Anne Makinen (Helsinki).

(Note: per NCAA regulations, schools are not allowed to release updated information on signees after the initial release. Thus, please note the below comments on the five previous signees that are reprinted from the earlier Feb. 10 release and also see http://und.collegesports.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/021004aaa.html for the complete release on the first five signees. Updated information on all six signees – including the upcoming national rankings – will not be able to be posted on und.com, until next fall, but fans and media may consult the appropriate websites such as www.socceramerica.com, www.soccerbuzz.com and www.ussoccer.com for updated information on the signees. Per NCAA rules, an official update on the newcomers will be provided next fall after they have reported to campus for preseason practice.)

Tjeder – who has played as both a forward and attacking midfielder – is a native of Espoo, Finland (located outside Helsinki), and was named the Veikkaus Oy player of the year after totaling 9 goals and 13 assists during 18 games played in the 2003 Finnish Women’s Championship Series (she scored 13 goals in ’02). A member of Finland’s under-17, u-19 and u-21 national team programs, she also currently serves as captain of her club team FC Espoo.

Like many European players, Tjeder first began playing soccer on boys teams but since has gone on to compete with Finland’s national women’s program versus teams from throughout the world. She made a visit to Notre Dame in late January and was hosted by junior defender Gudrun Gunnarsdottir, a native of Seltjarnames, Iceland.

“I really enjoyed my visit to the Notre Dame campus and had the chance to play ‘pick-up’ with the team,” says Tjeder. “I like the training facilities at Notre Dame and really enjoyed the players and coaches. I felt very comfortable around all of them.

“I’ve always been a very technical player and a goalscorer but I would like improve on my speed and ability in the air. I’m just very excited to be a part of Notre Dame women’s soccer.”

Tjeder, who intends to major in business, also is an accomplished student and was named a top-five student in the 9th grade before being recognized for having the best GPA in her 11th-grade class. Born June 20, 1985, she is the daughter of Peter and Christel Tjeder.

(Primary comments from the Feb. 10 signee release are included below, as is a chart of the six signees; see Feb. 10 release link for full contents of the earlier relese):

“This is the first time in my 19 years of coaching that we made early identifications of the top five players in the nation and then signed each of those players,” says Waldrum, who saw his 2003 freshman class ranked No. 5 in the nation. “We obviously are extremely excited about this class, primarily because we were able to fill the attacking voids left by the graduation of Amy Warner and Amanda Guertin while replacing the playmaking of Kim Carpenter.

“Amanda Cinalli, Susan Pinnick and Kerri Hanks are tremendous attacking players and Ashley Jones will give us that playmaking spark. We also added one of the best goalkeepers in the country by signing Lauren Karas. This helps solidify that position, as we now have three quality goalkeepers.”

Hanks serves as captain of the United States Under-19 National Team while Cinalli and Pinnick are members of the U.S. Under-17 National Team, with each of the above three players earning high school All-America honors.

Each of the five (initial) signees is a member of her respective Olympic Development Regional team, with Karas formerly a member of the U.S. Under-16 National Team player pool while Jones is a member of the Southern California United club program that was ranked No. 2 nationally among under-18 teams (behind the Dallas Texans club led by Hanks and Karas).

Notre Dame is set to lose just four players – forwards Warner and Guertin, midfielder Carpenter and outside back Vanessa Pruzinsky – from its 2003 team that was ranked as high as No. 2 in the national polls before finishing with a 20-3-1 overall record. In addition to the highly-regarded signees, the Irish also will look forward to a return to action from rising senior All-America outside back Candace Chapman and fifth-year all-BIG EAST midfielder Randi Scheller (both players missed all of the ’03 season due to injury).

Hanks is considered one of the nation’s top incoming recruits, after earning 2002 and ’03 All-America honors while starring the past two years with the U.S. Under-19 National Team. She also is a leading player for the nation’s No. 1-ranked club program and earned the Golden Boot top-scorer award at the 2003 USYSA national club championships, highlighted by her two-goal game in the Dallas Texans’ title-game win over Minnesota’s Tsunami Sota squad (2-0).

Cinalli is a three-year veteran of the U.S. soccer program, currently playing alongside Pinnick on the Under-17 National Team. A future hopeful for the U.S. Under-19 squad, she also has played alongside Pinnick on the ODP Region II team and is co-captain of the Cleveland Futbol Club that won the 2003 North Ohio state title. She earned 2003 All-America honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association (NSCAA) and was named state player of the year after a stellar senior season at Laurel High School, totaling 37 goals and 26 assists for that district championship squad.

Pinnick will remain close to home, following an impressive career at St. Joseph’s High School and with the Junior Irish and Carmel Commotion club programs. She has served as an outside midfielder and forward with the ODP Region II Team and helped lead the Indiana ODP squad to a third-place finish at the 2002 national tournament – in addition to playing a key role on the 2003 Carmel Commotion squad that went 33-4-3 in a national runner-up season. Most recently, Pinnick earned NSCAA All-America honors after totaling 28 goals and 10 assists for the St. Joseph’s team that reached the 2003 state title game.

The 5-9 Karas has been a member of the ODP Region III team since 2000 and was slated to compete with the North Texas ODP squad as one of four teams at the 2004 national tournament (in Las Vegas during March of 2004), in addition to competing with the Dallas Texans club squad at the 2004 regional tournament. She owned a 0.40 goals-against average in 27 career game with the Texans while posting 34 shutouts in 67 career games at Flower Mound High School. Her career highlights include a shutout win over the U.S. Under-17 National Team (1-0) and a 2-1 win over the defending national club champion Sereno (Ariz.) Golden Eagles.

Jones is a member of the ODP Region IV team and helped the ODP Cal-South state team win 2004 regional ODP title (qualifying them for this summer’s four-team national tournament). She also is in her sixth season as a forward/midfielder with the Southern California United club program (currently No. 2 in the under-18 national rankings) and was on her way to leading Westlake High School to its fourth straight league title as the team’s leading scorer (10 goals, as of Feb. 10), after earning all-state honors as a junior.

Player Position Ht. Hometown High School Club(s)
Amanda Cinalli Forward 5-8 Maple Hts, OH Laurel Cleveland FC; U.S. U-17s; ODP Reg. II
Kerri Hanks Forward 5-6 Allen, TX Allen Dallas Texans; U.S. U-19s; ODP III
Lauren Karas Goalkeeper 5-9 Flower Mound, TX Flower Mound Dallas Texans; ODP Region III
Ashley Jones Midfielder 5-4 Westlake Vill., CA Westlake Vill. Southern Calif. United; ODP Reg. IV
Susan Pinnick Forward 5-4 South Bend, IN St. Joseph’s Carmel Commotion; US U-17s; ODP II
Jannica Tjeder Forward Espoo, Finland FC Espoo; Finland U-21s