'Dog Bites

Women’s Soccer

Fresno State, which ranked third in the nation in average home attendance last season with 1,607 fans per game, announced the signing of 10 student athletes to national letters of intent.

Nine of the recruits are from California.

“ This is a very talented class of young women who have the ability to step right in and contribute immediately,” said Bulldogs coach Stacy Welp in a press release Sunday. “They are a skillful and athletic group that will give us tremendous depth, increase our team speed and complement our veteran players.”

The Valley recruits include Modesto’s Debra Marie Lambert and Lemoore’s Mercedes Splettstoesser.

The Bulldogs got four players—Erica Chisolm (Hesperia, Calif.), Naomi Ihara (Huntington Beach, Calif.), Amanda Reyes (Newhall, Calif.) and Brittany Thomas (Palmdale, Calif.)—from the southern California region.

“ With Naomi, her size will help us on the backline and she is great in the air,” Welp said. “Erica is an extremely hard worker who is ready to compete at the collegiate level. Amanda is also great on defense and can take opposing players right out of their game, while Brittany brings a great deal of speed to our roster.”

Twin defenders Megan and Aubrey Tennant signed out of El Dorado Hills, Calif. Defender Christina Gilbert was signed from Saratoga, Calif.

The one signee from outside of the state is midfielder Andrea Alires of Albuquerque, NM.

The Bulldogs were 7-9-2 overall last season and 4-4 in the Western Athletic Conference.