Vanessa Martinez Lagunas welcomed four new recruits to her University of Manitoba Bisons women's soccer team on Friday.

The head coach also hopes to welcome a lot more money to the team's scholarship fund later this month when the team conducts its inaugural fundraising and awards dinner. Former Bisons midfielder and current Canadian women's team member Desiree Scott will be the guest speaker on Monday, May 23, at Canad Inns-Fort Garry.

“Our vision is to become one of the top women's soccer programs in Canada,” Martinez Lagunas said Friday. “In order to achieve that we need to be able to support our current players and attract top talent at the local, national and international level.

“The only way for a coach to do that is to have financial resources, to have a strong scholarship fund that can allow me to attract that level of talent. That's why, in the next few years, a big priority for myself and for the whole program is to increase our scholarship fund.”

The Bisons enjoyed the second best season of their 11-year existence last fall, making the playoffs with a 7-5-2 record. Martinez Lagunas has signed four Winnipeg girls in an attempt to build on that success, introducing forward Celeste Gallego, and midfielders Hailey Lavarias, Jamie Newall and Hayley Ward on Friday.

“These girls will be able to challenge some of our returning players, and that's good because it will make everyone work harder,” Martinez Lagunas said.

Gallego might not have been on the U of M's radar had it not been for an exhibition game against the Herd last fall. She wasn't on the provincial team, but she more than made up for that by scoring three goals in the friendly.

“It was a great opportunity for me to showcase myself,” Gallego said. “So during the game I tried to play as hard as I could. These girls were a lot more fit at the time, and it just felt really great to play against them.”

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