Pirates Add Four to 2017 Soccer Roster

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina Head Women's Soccer Coach Rob Donnenwirth announced four additions to the 2017 signing class Thursday. Daria Draovitch, Manon Labois, Michelle Newhouse and Veronica Lif Thordardottir will attend ECU and play soccer for the Pirates beginning this fall.

"We are excited to add four more student-athletes to our 10 we announced on signing day," Donnenwirth said. "This is a deep and talented class that will provide competition at every position."

Draovitch is a 5-foot-7 defender from Cary, N.C. She began her collegiate career at North Carolina State where she logged two assists in 11 appearances for the Wolfpack. She tallied her first career assist in NC State's season-opening 6-1 win over La Salle. Draovitch notched her second assist in the Wolfpack's 4-0 victory against George Washington on Sept. 11.

"Daria is very athletic and combines good speed and fitness to make her an effective wide player," Donnenwirth said. "She is a good two-way player that can cover a lot of ground, and I like her mentality in the attack."

She played for the 97 CASL ECNL squad and was a five-year member of the North Carolina State Olympic Development Program's (ODP) first team. With her club, she qualified to compete in back-to-back ECNL National Championships.

While playing at Athens Drive High School, Draovitch was named her team's Defensive MVP and earned all-conference honors.

Labois, a 5-foot-3 defender from Flins-sur-Seine, France. She has played for the French U-16, U-18 and U-19 National Teams. As a member of the Paris Saint-Germain F.C. Feminines U-19 team, she helped her squad win the French National Championship.

"Manon has played at the highest level in France with her youth national teams and with Paris Saint-Germain, which is considered one of the best clubs in Europe," Donnenwirth said. "Manon is very fast, has great technical ability and reads the game very well. We will look for Manon to help us immediately in the back as a center or wide defender."

Newhouse, a 5-foot-8 goalkeeper from Elkview, W.Va., will use her final year of eligibility with the Pirates after a successful career at West Virginia. This past season, Newhouse appeared in 14 of the Mountaineers' 27 matches and earned a 9-0-1 record with a .45 goals against average. She produced six solo shutouts and allowed just five goals in 991 minutes of action in 2016.

"We are very excited to have Michelle join us for her graduate year," Donnenwirth said. "She is a proven goalkeeper at the highest level of collegiate soccer. Michelle is a powerful athlete. She is a great shot stopper, can dominate in the air and is great with her feet starting the attack."

Last fall Newhouse guided WVU to its third Big 12 Tournament championship in four seasons. She posted shutouts in both the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, and secured a 3-2 overtime win in the title game against No. 7 seed TCU. She played between the posts for the Mountaineers in the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament en route to WVU finishing as the national runners up in 2016.

After redshirting her freshman season, she experienced action in eight matches throughout her sophomore and junior seasons and was a key part of WVU advancing to the 2014 Big 12 title game when she came off the bench in a penalty kick shootout against Texas to turn away two Longhorn chances and push the Mountaineers into the finals.

Additionally, Newhouse was named the 2012 West Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year and earned NSCAA Girls High School All-America honors as a prep standout.

Thordardottir is a 5-foot-11 defender from Akranes, Iceland. She was selected as a practice player for Iceland's U-17 team and was later named Player of the Year in IA's U-18 team.

"Veronica has experience at the national team level," Donnenwirth said. "She is another versatile player that will help us in the back as a central or wide defender. She has excellent speed, reads the game well and is a good distributor of the ball."

Thordardottir is a graduate of North Thurston High School in Lacey, Wash., where she was named All-Narrows League 3A Second Team in 2014. She also garnered scholar-athlete honors that same year.

The Pirates open the 2017 season Friday, Aug. 18, at home against Dayton. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.

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