Three of the top recruits in North Texas signing class won't have to go far to get to their new home for the next four years.
All it will take is a short drive across town for Guyer seniors Lindsey Hulstein, Paige Bucklew and Tess Graham.
All three signed with UNT on national signing day and were part of an eight-player class brought in by head coach John Hedlund, who led the Mean Green to the regular-season Sun Belt Conference title last fall.
UNT beat Denver with the title on the line in its regular-season finale and finished 14-4-3 after falling to Western Kentucky in the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
"It was very important to bring in a strong class for this year," Hedlund said. "When you lose six quality seniors and are coming off a championship season, the goal must be to bring in several players that can make an immediate impact. I truly feel we have done that with the 2012 class, making the future very bright."
All three Guyer players are key members of the class. They will follow in the footsteps of current UNT standout Kelsey Hodges, who is also a Guyer product.
Graham is a defender, Hulstein a center midfielder and Bucklew an outside defender.
"I'm really excited," Graham said. "It just ended up working that way. It's a blessing because I get to stay with my best friends and I'm gonna know how they play, so it's not that much different. And I get to play with Kelsey again, so I'm really excited."
The chance to stay close to home and play with friends in college was important to all three players.
"I never really wanted to stay in Denton, but when I thought about it and knew I had to commit, I decided I love Denton," Bucklew said. "My family will be close, and I have my two best friends I can always count on."
All three Guyer seniors play for ECNL Sting '94.
The trio will join a class that also includes forward Amanda Burgardt, who is transferring to UNT from SMU, Molly Grisham, a midfielder from Longview, Amber Haggerty, a forward from Dallas Christian, Jackie Moreau, a midfielder from Coppell, Gabi Ortiz, a midfielder from Austin McNeil and Karla Pineda, a forward from Aldine.
"We've been best friends since we were in elementary school," Hulstein said. "We started playing soccer together when we were 6 years old. We talked about it but when recruited started we never thought that on signing day we'd all be going to the same school."
BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .
