BEAVERTON, Ore. --- With the graduation of midfielders Janae Megorden and Ashley Ramirez, Biola Women's Soccer needed to find another midfielder who brings the ball handlings skills and soccer IQ the Eagles need to sure up their depth in the middle third.

Biola hopes its found one such player who can join in the line of McKenna Marmelstein, Megorden and Ramirez in the person of Katelyn Penner. Penner is an Oregon native who comes to Biola after excelling in club-team competition and in the classroom, where she earned a 4.0 GPA and was recently named a National Merit Finalist.

"Katelyn has one of the highest soccer IQs we've recruited in recent years and absolutely loves the game in its purest form.," said Head Coach Erin Brunelle.  "She is constantly setting goals for herself and working on refining her individual skill set to help the players around her succeed in their own game. The ECNL has prepared her well for college soccer and she will no doubt be one of the most creative and technical midfielders to come through our program."

Penner was also featured on Elite Clubs National League's Amazing Young Women's platform for her ball juggling abilities and took the opportunity to train at the US Soccer Training Center. She started posting her juggling videos to YouTube about four years ago and received over 139,000 views for a "walkabout" video similar to the juggling made famous by national team member Tobin Heath.

Brunelle also remarked on Penner's strong Christian upbringing and said the team is looking forward to walking alongside her as she grows in her faith at Biola.

"I felt God calling me to Biola as a school where I can not only directly deepen my relationship with Christ but also integrate my faith into my passion for soccer and my academic interests," said Penner.

She expects to major in a field related to match or science when she arrives at Biola and will begin practices with her new teammates in August. Click here for a full list of this year's commitments to Biola Athletics.