Tusculum College head Women's soccer coach Mike Joy has announced that Jana Linke of Freiburg, Germany has signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer for the Pioneers beginning in the fall of 2011.

Linke, a 5-7 defender/midfielder, attended Staudinger Gesamtschule School and plays for the SC Freiburg club team in the Women's Bundesliga. She is the program's first-ever signee from Germany.

"We had the opportunity to take our team to Germany for a preseason trip a few years ago. We played some teams in the Bundesliga and we know first hand how competitive their soccer league is," said Joy, who will begin his 15th season at Tusculum with a 190-84-19 record and 20th overall as a head coach at the collegiate level with a record of 276-109-24. "We have high hopes that Jana will come in and compete right away for us."

The Pioneers finished 9-9-1 in 2010 and 3-5-1 in the South Atlantic Conference, and advanced to the Food Lion SAC Tournament semifinals for the 10th time in 12 years. They will open their 2011 season on Saturday, Sept. 2 against Montevallo as part of the Tusculum Kickoff Tournament at Pioneer Field.