Eight players will join Charlotte 49ers women’s soccer in 2021.

Six of the newcomers to sign National Letters of Intent on Nov. 11 are from North Carolina, with the remaining pair from South Carolina and Illinois.

“We are exceptionally excited about the incoming class; we’re very proud of the work we do here with the recruitment of the players,” coach John Cullen said in a statement. “We always look for high-character individuals, great families, wonderful soccer players, extremely coachable young ladies and players who will be great student-athletes who will represent us well on the field, in the community and in the classroom. We’re excited about the group. It’s a great group of young ladies, a lot of highly-technical players with wonderful characters.”

Charlotte signed three locals in Hayden Hord, Ella Joaquin and Camden Poole.

Hord, a midfielder/forward, played for Charlotte Soccer Academy under-19 ECNL. She also played for the Charlotte Soccer Academy United States Soccer Development Academy side from 2017-19. The U.S. Soccer Federation eliminated the DA earlier this year. Hord, who attends Cuthbertson High, was also a member of the 2016 North Carolina Olympic Development Program Region III state team and played for the state ODP Team 1 from 2014-16. Academically, she is a National Honor Society and Beta Club member.

“She’s someone who’s exceptionally good in those hard spaces,” Cullen said. “She can play wide but also play centrally. She finds those pockets of space that allows her to get on the ball, get faced up. [She has] another great family, like all these players. She is suitable to a lot of systems. She has that soccer IQ to find space, get on the ball, face up and play people in.”

Joaquin, who lives in Matthews, attends Porter Ridge High and plays for the Charlotte Independence ECNL squad. The midfielder was voted to the 2019 All-Region 8 and All-Southwest 4A Conference first team. She was selected to attend the 2018 Elite Clubs National League Player Development Program Mid-Atlantic event.
“She is very, very comfortable on the ball,” Cullen said. “She can play as a holding midfield player. She plays with poise and composure and is a good, two-footed player. We want to get her close to goal because she has some great ideas around that area. She checks all the boxes of all the things we’re looking for with this class, all the important things to us.”

Poole, an outside midfielder/forward, attends Hough High and plays for the Charlotte Independence ECNL. She was voted to the North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association All-Region 9 and All-I-Meck 4A teams in 2018 and 2019. For club, she served as captain for the current season, and was named a 2018-19 Player to Watch for the ECNL Mid-Atlantic Region.

“Camden is a player we’ve had our eye on for quite a while,” Cullen said. “She’s a left-footed player. She’s a player who I feel has great versatility – she can play left back, left wing back, left midfield or even left forward. She’s a really athletic player who can get up and down the line with a great cross on the ball, an excellent service from deep positions. She’s hard working and mature and we’re very excited about her potential as well.”

Macey Bader, Braelynn Francher and Kate Rodelli are part of the North Carolina Courage Academy.

Bader, an attacking midfielder from Apex, attends Friendship High. She earned North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association All-Region 6 team and all-conference recognition as a sophomore in 2019 while also leading the team to the third round of the state playoffs. She led her high school team in assists, while serving as her club’s leading scorer. Bader also earned her school’s Patriot Award for academic excellence three times in 2019.

“We have had the opportunity to see her play numerous times,” Cullen said. “She comes from a very athletic background with her family and a pedigree of a soccer background, which I love. She has a good feel for the game, an attacking player with great instincts and good personality going to goal. She has the ability to dribble beyond the first defender.”

Francher is from Wake Forest, and attends Heritage High. In addition to her all-conference academic success, she earned 4A North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association All-State, All-Region 5, all-conference as a sophomore, the only year she has been eligible for high school soccer so far. She also earned MVP after her performance in the 4A state championship game. Francher was invited to the 2019 U.S. Youth Soccer ODP Inter-Regional event in Boca Raton, Florida. She also earned national and regional selection for ODP.

“One of three from the same club program that will hopefully translate into success here at Charlotte,” Cullen said. “She’s another gifted technical player. She’s extremely coachable and a talented young player. She’s a player we think will break into the lineup, like many of the others, very quickly. She has the ability to be a great short passer but also a long-range passer and open up the game. [She is] another player with an eye for goal but technically comfortable on the ball, which is an important attribute of being a Charlotte 49er.”

Rodelli, a midfielder from Carrboro, attends Chapel Hill High. She has played club soccer exclusively and earned an invitation to the U.S. Market Training Center in 2017-18. From 2017-20 she played in the DA, qualifying for national playoffs in 2018 and 2019. Then she joined ECNL in 2020-21. She is also a member of the National Latin Honor Society, with a 4.6 grade point average.

“[She is] an excellent young technical player,” Cullen said. “Very smart, very composed, very poised on the ball. That’s essential to us with how we play. We play through the midfield and bring numbers forward through building and we want players who are comfortable on the ball. She has high soccer intelligence in terms of the middle of the pitch. She’s very good at knitting things together, a neat, timely player. She’s improving all the time with her attacking game and getting better and better with her defensive side of the game. Her style of player suits the style we like to play here.”

Striker Hanna Kimmelman and defender Kiara Praelle are the out-of-state signees.

Kimmelman is from Greenville, South Carolina, where she attends Southside Christian Academy and plays for South Carolina United FC. She was voted to the 2019 2A South Carolina High School Soccer Coaches Association all-state and all-region teams, and earned all-region honors in 2018. She scored 27 goals and had 26 assists in 2019 for her high school team, leading them to the 2A state title. They finished as state runner-up in 2018. In 2019, she earned Mid-Atlantic ECNL Conference Selections Program in 2018, and has been her club’s leading goal scorer over the last four years. Academically, she is a member of the National Honor Society and Beta Club.

“A young lady who came to a couple of our ID events and improved each time she came back,” Cullen said. “What I liked about her was her desire to go to goal. She’s always the main attacking threat of her club team and carrying the fight to the opposition. She’s a great finisher of the ball. We wanted to add another scoring punch to our team. She can play off the wing or down the middle, as a lone striker or with another striker.”

Pralle heads to Charlotte from Bourbannais, Illinois, where she attends Bradley Bourbannais Community High and plays for Eclipse Select Soccer Club. Pralle is exclusively a club player, and was one of six athletes from the program selected to attend the 2018 ECNL Midwest Player Development Program. From 2017-19, she led her club to ECNL playoffs. Off the field, she is a member of the National Honor Society.

“She’s a hard-working player who is fully committed,” Cullen said. “She can play both the right side and the left side as a fullback, very attack-minded and very committed to getting back and doing her defensive responsibilities. [She is] just a hard-nosed, competitive player who is feisty and gritty but talented. We’re excited about her work ethic and desire to be a great player.”

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