Coming off a season in which it shared the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship and snared a Top 8 seed in the NCAA Championship, the University of North Carolina women’s soccer team has finalized its recruiting class that will enroll this August.

A total of seven players have either signed national letters of intent or accepted offers of admission as recruited non-scholarship players. UNC head coach Anson Dorrance will look to these players to help replace 2014 seniors Satara Murray, Brooke Elby, Taylor Ramirez, Bianca Gray, Sarah Thompson and Kat Nigro. Last year’s Tar Heel team finished 14-4-2 overall and 9-0-1 in the ACC.

The incoming class includes Julia Ashley of Verona, N.J.; Dorian Bailey of Mission, Kan.; Nicole Crutchfield of Durham, N.C.; Samantha Leshnak of Liberty Township, Ohio; Kate Morris of Plymouth, Mich.; Ru Mucherera of Oviedo, Fla.; and Khara Vasseli of Miami, Fla.

Following is some brief biographical background on each of the signees. Please check back on the GoHeels.com Women’s Soccer Roster page after July 1 for full bios on all the incoming freshmen.

Julia Ashley hails from Verona, N.J. She is the daughter of Martin and Suzanne Ashley who were both collegiate athletes at Boston College. Ashley attends Verona High School. She has been a member of the Match Fit Academy Colchesters since she was seven years old. Her club team is currently ranked #2 nationally by Top Drawer Soccer in the ECNL U18s. Ashley has competed at both outside and center back and midfield during her club career. She is rated a four-star recruit by Top Drawer Soccer and has been a co-captain of her club team for nine successive years. In addition to her excellence in soccer, she has set 14 high school track records at Verona High School.

Dorian Bailey is a five-star rated recruit by Top Drawer Soccer. The Mission, Kan., native is a current member of the U.S. U20 women’s national team coached by Michelle French. She previously has been a member of U18, U17, U15 and U14 WNT as named by U.S. Soccer. A high school All-America in both 2013 & 2014, she was the Missouri Gatorade High School Player of the Year in 2014. On the club level, she competes for Sporting Blue Valley Soccer Club, which was a national semifinalist in 2012 and a quarterfinalist in 2013. On the high school level, she is a four-year starter at St. Teresa’s Academy in Kansas City, Mo., where she led her team to state finalist spots in both 2013 and 2014. Bailey is one of Carolina’s most versatile incoming players, having played midfield, forward and outside back with U.S. WNT youth squads through the years. She is the daughter of Lisa and Bryan Bailey.

Nicole Crutchfield is a forward and outside back at Northern High School in Durham, N.C., where she plays both soccer and basketball. She had scored 94 goals in her high school career through her junior year (senior season is currently ongoing). At Northern Durham, she was recognized as the PAC-6 Player of the Year as a junior and has been a three-time All-Conference selection as well as an All-State selection in 2014. As a high school player, she scored 18 goals as a freshman (along with 10 assists), 35 goals as a sophomore (along with 10 assists) and 41 goals as a junior (along with 16 assists).

Samantha Leshnak is a native of Liberty Township, Ohio. She graduates from Mount Notre Dame High School on May 26, 2015. A goalkeeper, she started most recently on the national team level for the U.S. women’s U17 and U18 national teams. She has been in U.S. Soccer’s National Team cycle since age 13 including attending a pair of U20 National Team training camps in the past six months. On the club level, she has competed for the Ohio Elite Soccer Academy since she was 13 years old. As a senior at Mount Notre Dame, she earned high school All-America honors. In her high school career, she scored three goals and added two assists. She recorded shutouts in 27 of 68 career games and allowed only 24 goals in 68 games in her career, including only three in 15 games as a senior.

Kate Morris comes to UNC from Plymouth, Mich. She attended Ladywood Catholic High School in Livonia and is the daughter of Tim and Jean Morris. She has excelled on the field for the Michigan Hawks club team as well as on multiple U.S. WNT youth teams. Morris plays both center midfielder and center defender. Morris was a 2014 NSCAA Youth girls’ All-America Team selection. She has been named to U.S. Youth soccer national teams and attended numerous training camps on the national team level since August 2011 when she started with the U14s. Morris has played since 2010 for the Michigan Hawks 97 in Livonia, including serving as team captain three successive years. Prior to joining the Hawks, she competed with Michigan Rush 96 Blue and the Novi Jaguars 96 Green.

Ruvimbo Tracy Elizabeth “Ru” Mucherera comes to Carolina from Oviedo, Fla. She is the daughter of Tapiwa and Bertha Mucherera. She attended Hagerty High School in Oviedo, Fla., and has played for five different club teams in the Orlando area during her youth soccer career. Her parents are natives of Zimbabwe.

Khara Vassell hails from Miami where she attends Gulliver Preparatory School. She played her club soccer for the Palm Beach Soccer Academy-Magicjack where she was the team captain. The club has competed at a high level, winning 11 tournament championships over the past four years. A versatile player she has played at times on defense, in the midfield and at forward during her club career. On the high school level, she played varsity soccer all four years, winning the rookie of the year award and serving as team captain. Primarily a midfielder in high school, she led her team to district championships four times and a state runner-up finish in 2013.

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