Georgia College & State University women’s soccer and women’s volleyball enter the final days of the regular seasons as they enter the Peach Belt Conference Tournament.
GCSU women’s soccer concluded its regular season with a 7-7-4 record, with a 5-3-2 record in the Peach Belt Conference. Their performance in the regular season gave the Bobcats a fourth-seeded position in the conference tournament.
This lined them up for the ability to host the Flagler College Saints on Saturday, Nov. 8, in the quarterfinals; however, their second consecutive opportunity to host the quarterfinals was not as successful as the previous year, as they fell 1-0 to the Saints.
“We obviously put ourselves in a good position to do a little bit better than that, but, ultimately, we’ve achieved what we wanted to achieve,” said Coach Jack Marchant of the women’s soccer team. “Going back-to-back fourth-place finishes has been really pleasing, especially after losing 14 seniors last year and bringing in four freshmen.”
After losing many seniors in the previous year, the Marchant brought in eight freshmen: Kaisa Fagerström, Jenni Järventaus, Rachel Zetina, Taylor Horton, Izzy Sause, Darby Boran, Lillie Sheffield, Alayna Cobb and Brittany Bakke.
“The freshmen this year had to step up into certain roles, so to give them that experience, going into next year is really pleasing,” Marchant said. “I’ve been over the moon with them. They’ve been awesome. They’re going to be future leaders of the program.”
While the Bobcats’ women’s soccer team was not able to make it past the quarterfinals, the season was anything but unsuccessful. The Bobcats’ Fagerström took home the honors of Freshman of the Year as well as an appearance on the All-Conference First-Team for the Peach Belt Conference. Sarah Mason and Adriana Duque were also named to the All-Conference Second-Team.
The Bobcats achieved some notable victories throughout the season. After a semi-slow start to their season, they exploded for a 4-0 win over Valdosta State University on Freshmen Tailgate Day on Sept. 11.
They opened their conference play for the season with a 4-0 victory over Clayton State University, which led to an eight-game unbeaten streak capped off by their biggest win of the year, a 5-0 victory over Albany State University, which included a hat-trick by graduate forward Ellie Fuller, earning her the Peach Belt Player of the Week award.
However, the Bobcats struggled entering the final stretch of the regular season, with losses to the ninth-ranked team, the University of North Georgia, Columbus State University, Lander University and a tie against Eckerd College in their final regular-season contest.
The Bobcats honored eight seniors during the 2025 season: Duque, Fuller, Mason, Abbey Eison, Natalie Eydam, Bridget Johnson, Emma Danley and Sarah Charney.
Mason and Fuller led the Bobcays in goals during the season with four each, followed by Fagerström and Mia Palumbo, who had three apiece. Mason also led the assists category with four, while Järventaus followed up with three assists. Mason’s dominance in the stats category continued into the shots category as well, having 16 shots on goal, while Bakke and Fuller had nine shots on goal each.
The Bobcats employed a tandem goalkeeping setup throughout the season, rotating between sophomores Kassidy Fortin and Ella Hayes, who each had a save percentage of .789 and .800, respectively. Hayes was named PBC Goalkeeper of the Week earlier in the season.
The Bobcat women’s soccer team was once again anything but unsuccessful as they look to regroup for the offseason, and Marchant prepares to bring in recruits for the 2026 season.
“The goal next year will be to finish fourth,” Marchant said. “I want the program to finish in the top four every year consistently. Now, you’re hoping that you can maybe knock on the door to third or second.”
GCSU women’s volleyball has also had anything but an unsuccessful season, bouncing back from an 8-21 record in the previous season and improving to an impressive 13-14 record overall. Coach Abigail King has worked well to bring this Bobcat women’s volleyball team towards the top in her three years with the program.
As they do yearly, the Bobcats opened up with the Bobcat Classic, winning three of their first four matches to open the season. While the sub-500 record is noticeable when looking at the stats sheet, fans need to look deeper to see the talent of the 2025 GCSU women’s volleyball team.
Entering the 2025 season, the Bobcats brought in five freshmen, who have all been integral parts of the women’s volleyball team: Milla Smith, Emmersyn Mullvain, Kendra Leboehi, Ile Bernis and Avery Huyck.
“We brought in a bunch of new freshmen and transfers that all bring new strengths to the team that we hadn’t had before,” said Sadie Parkerson, a sophomore on the women’s volleyball team.
On top of all the freshmen, the Bobcats honored six seniors during their five-set victory over the University of South Carolina-Aiken on Saturday, Nov. 8: Alanis Bernis, Camryn Carlton, Madeline Gilmartin, Riese Johnson, Lexi Polychrones and Hayley Shepherd.
Bernis’s time as a Bobcat deserves a deeper dive, as her senior year has been historic. On Oct. 21, in the Bobcats’ four-set victory against Coker University, she set the single-game GCSU record for most digs in a four-set game with 38. She also creeps closer to the individual career record for GCSU for digs in a career, currently sitting at 1609, which is 13 away from Jordyn Moellering’s record of 1622. She also spent her final season as a Bobcat alongside her sister, Ile, on the squad as a serving specialist.
Kaylee Weeks leads the Bobcats in kills for the season with 227, followed by Huych with 208 and Carlton with 164, even though she missed some time. Johnson leads the Bobcats in assists with 333, followed by Parkerson with 235 and Lexi Baum with 175. Parkerson has also contributed 23 service aces, while Johnson has collected 21 and Bernis has 17.
“My teammates have pushed me to be an even better version of myself this season, even better than last year, and it’s thanks to them that I’ve achieved the goals that I placed for myself at the beginning of the season,” Parkerson said.
On the defensive side of the metrics, Bernis’ 485 digs leads the Bobcats, followed by Johnson with 169 and Weeks with 162. Carlton leads the Bobcats with 50 total blocks, with Nya Warren and Shepherd contributing 48.
The Bobcats have four final regular-season matches before their appearance in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament. Their final non-conference contest takes place on Thursday, Nov. 13, against Emmanuel University at 6 p.m., followed by a couple of matches against newly minted Peach Belt member Middle Georgia State University in Macon on Nov. 14 and Nov. 15.
The Peach Belt Conference Tournament is currently scheduled to begin on Nov. 21 and run until Nov. 23, with the number-one-seeded team in the conference, Flagler College.
“We’ve had numerous talks as a team about mindset, and we’ve made it our goal to put a good pressure on ourselves to beat the odds that were stacked against us from the beginning of the season,” Parkerson said. “I’m confident in our mindset just to defeat the odds and make Georgia College a program that people are scared of.”