By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team rounded out its 2020 roster, as the Golden Eagles and head coach Steve Springthorpe announced the signings of two new players to help bolster Tech's club.
Incoming freshmen Helen Kuhn and Giada Zhou will be the latest to throw on the purple and gold, joining the TTU ranks after enjoying a slew of success on the international stage, with both rookies coming to Cookeville from overseas. Kuhn and Zhou help tie a ribbon on a Golden Eagle incoming freshmen class of eight after Tech signed five in November's National Letter of Intent Signing Day, before bringing aboard Selma Askildsen in mid-January.
"We are excited to be adding the final pieces to our recruiting class of 2020," Tech head coach Steve Springthorpe said. "When we set out recruiting this class of players, we knew we had some specific needs that we had to address for the long-term success of our program. Both Helen and Giada will help us continue to have success in the near future and well into the next couple of seasons."
Kuhn, a 5-foot-8 goalkeeper out of Mettlach, Germany, heads to Tech after a wealth of top-level international experience. A member of the German Youth National Team, Kuhn made her presence felt early in her career after being named Goalkeeper of the Tournament in the U-14 German Soccer Association. A three-year starter in the U-17 Bundesliga, Kuhn took aim within a number of different club teams, including SV Elversberg, SV Gottelborn and the SV Mettlach boys' team.
"Helen will add immediate depth to our group of goalkeepers and we think that she could be a future leader in that position," Springthorpe claimed. "Helen has played and trained at a very high level in Germany and having seen her train within the German Youth National Team program as well as playing many competitive games for her club, we are confident she will bring the tools necessary to continue to provide great goalkeeper play here at Tennessee Tech. This position has always been a strength of our program, as we rely on it not only from a defensive perspective, but also as a position that starts the attack for us. We are thrilled Helen has decided to join our team."
Zhou, a 5-foot-2 midfielder out of San Michele al Tagliamento in Venice, Italy, enters her TTU tenure after spending the last three years with Tavagnacco Femminile, a high-level Italian women's football club located in Tavagnacco. In her first season with the squad in 2017-18, Zhou helped lead her team to a regional championship, before the club finished second overall in the rankings in the 2018-19 campaign. In the 2019-20 season, Tavagnacco Femminile was ranked fifth and Zhou showed her ability to find the back of the net behind five goals as an attacking midfielder.
"Giada is a very skillful player that can play many positions, most of which are in the attacking phase of the game," Springthorpe noted. "She can play in a defensive mid position more as a transitional player, but also can play as a winger and forward. We think Giada will have a strong opportunity to play immediate minutes for us and make an impact right away. She could possibly be one of the most skillful players on our team."
