HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team signed a pair of junior college transfers, Hitomi Konno and Paityn Bretzer, to the 2019 signing class, third-year SLU soccer head coach Chris McBride announced this week.
 
Konno, a junior transfer from Tyler Junior College, was named to the NJCAA First Team All-America team last season. The 5-foot-3-inch midfielder scored 18 goals and had seven assists guiding the Apaches to a 23-2-1 record. As a freshman, the Kanagwa, Japan native, netted seven goals with eight assists.
 
"She's a very technical player," said McBride. "She will bring an aspect to our game that will give us another dimension moving forward. Her experience the last two years (playing at Tyler JC) that she will bring to the program is going to add a lot of value to our playing style."
 
Bretzer, a sophomore transfer, played in all 19 matches with 14 starts for Navarro Junior College. The 5-6 forward from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada scored four goals and had five assists helping Navarro to a 15-2-2 overall record last season.
 
"Paityn brings a lot of experience as well," said McBride. "She's a left-footed player that's going to balance us out a little bit more on the left hand side so adding her is going to give us a lot of aggression going forward. She's dynamic, explosive, strong, good on the ball and smart. Between both Paityn and Hitomi, they are two good players that we've added to the squad that's going to make us deeper in certain possessions and also make us an extra threat going forward."
 
Konno, Bretzer and the Lady Lions will begin preseason practice Sunday, Aug. 7 at Strawberry Stadium.
 
SCORE ONE MORE CLUB/S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the women's soccer program are encouraged to join the Score One More Club.  Lion alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners. All membership fees and donations to Score One More Club are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern soccer program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
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