Felician University first-year transfer students Aroa Herrero Nieto of Almeria, Spain, Katinka Ummels of Urmond, Netherlands and Lindsay Whaley of Subic Bay, Philippines have signed athletics agreements for Women’s Soccer with the Golden Falcons, Felician head coach Aris Alpian announced.

Herrero Nieto comes to Felician with two years of NCAA eligibility. The 5-foot-2 midfielder last played for Cloud County Community College in Concordia, Kansas, in 2018 and 2019. As a sophomore, she was named a Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Player of the Week while helping the Thunderbirds to the KJCCC West Division championship. Nieto earned an Associate of Arts Degree from CCCC and plans to major in Exercise Sports Science at Felician.

“Aroa is a creative attacking midfielder who can control the tempo of a game and get her teammates involved,” Alpian said. “Having been a member of the famed Atletico Madrid youth academy, she is experienced in the European development model and also has a working knowledge of the pace and physicality of college soccer in the U.S.”

Ummels is a 5-foot-10 outside midfielder transferring from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. She never suited up for LMU due to injury but appeared in 11 games for Northern State University of Aberdeen, S.D. as a true freshman in 2019. Ummels played for the first team of the Dutch club Fortuna ’54 and intends to major in Communications at Felician.

“Katinka combines NCAA experience with the technical ball mastery that is synonymous with Dutch soccer,” Alpian said. “Adding a tall and dynamic winger like her really helps our team makeup and our overall soccer IQ.”

Whaley played for fellow Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference member Concordia (N.Y.) College as a freshman in 2019, starting eight of 15 games, before spending the 2020-21 academic year at Jamestown (N.Y.) Community College. A 5-2 forward/midfielder, Whaley is a member of the senior player pool for national team of the Philippines, which finished as the runner-up at the most recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional tournament. She expects to study Business Administration at Felician.

“Having a player like Lindsay who has represented her country on the international level all across Asia, while also having played in the CACC, is a tremendous asset to our program,” Alpian said. “Her ability to play as a forward or on the wing gives our coaching staff a multitude of options in our attack.”

Felician is scheduled to begin its 2021 season by hosting East Stroudsburg University on Thursday, September 2.