Six Programs, Six Roads: Georgia's NCAA Women's Soccer Season Begins
- Jason Longshore
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Women's soccer in Georgia has grown at every level over the past several years, from youth clubs and high school programs up into a college scene that now includes six Division I programs. West Georgia's the newest addition to that group, having made the jump from Division II just a year ago.
College soccer's still the level that decides whether a player gets a real look at the professional or international game, and Georgia's already got proof the pipeline works: the state's flagship program alone currently has four alumnae playing in the NWSL. That growth's also giving the state's own high school talent more reason to stay home. A player from Peachtree City or Macon or Kennesaw can now find a Division I roster spot without leaving Georgia, across the SEC, the Sun Belt, the SoCon, Conference USA, and the newly formed United Athletic Conference.
All six programs open their 2026 seasons this week. Here's where each one stands.
Mercer: A Bus Out of Macon, and a Different Problem
Mercer opens at Jackson State Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, and head coach Tony Economopoulos is carrying a problem into his fifteenth season that he didn't have a year ago. A year ago, Mercer's roster shrank from 24 players in preseason to just 14 by the time it reached Oklahoma State, so thin the team couldn't risk full contact training more than once the entire season. This year's roster is deep enough that Economopoulos had to cut his travel party to 20 for a preseason trip to Charleston. "This is a great problem," he told SDH AM this week.
That depth helped Mercer finish 10-7-3 overall and 3-3-3 in SoCon play a season ago, good enough to knock off the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds in the conference tournament before falling to Samford in the championship game. Sophomore midfielder Payton Nutzman and senior defender Anna Bachman were both named Preseason All-SoCon this week, the first such honor for either. Nutzman finished with seven goals and 19 points as a freshman despite a season ending injury in October, and Bachman started all 20 games while anchoring a back line that produced seven shutouts.
The roster reaches well past Macon these days, from freshman forward Emily Rutkowski in Melbourne, Australia, to midfielder Marianna Rapani, discovered while Economopoulos was scouting a different player for Greece's U19 team and who got called up to the senior Greek national team this summer. Mercer travels to West Georgia in Carrollton on Aug. 16, then plays a first ever meeting with Maine, before a three match home stand at Betts Stadium that includes Georgia Southern and a visit from 19th ranked Georgia on Aug. 30. I am looking forward to being on the broadcast for the home opener against South Carolina State on Aug. 23, streaming on ESPN+.
West Georgia: A New League Opens With an Old Rival
West Georgia begins life in the United Athletic Conference the same way it's begun the last two seasons, against Jacksonville State, this time on the road at 6 p.m. Wednesday. It's the third straight year the two have opened against each other, and the Gamecocks hold a 2-0 series edge, though last year's meeting in Carrollton finished in dramatic fashion, with three goals in the final three minutes. A wild finish either way.
Third year head coach Mallory Sayre brings back eight starters from a team that went 4-13-2 and doubled its win total from West Georgia's first Division I season. Senior Noemi Casique led the Wolves with four goals a year ago and scored twice in less than a minute against Jacksonville State last season. Sophomore goalkeeper Emily Sanabria posted the third most saves in a single season in program history as a freshman, 116 of them, with a .768 save percentage.
Jacksonville State enters off a 6-9-3 season of its own, led by senior Amelia Jacobs, who finished fifth in Conference USA scoring and found the net in last year's opener against the Wolves. West Georgia's looking for its first win in the series, and its first as a member of a new conference, on the same night.
Georgia Southern: Chasing Consistency Again
Georgia Southern opens at home against North Florida Wednesday at 7 p.m., picked to finish ninth in the Sun Belt for the second year running. The Eagles finished exactly there in 2025, going 2-10-6 and missing the conference tournament for a second straight season, a run head coach Chris Adams traces to close matches slipping away. Georgia Southern was 2-7 and 2-9 in one goal games over the last two seasons combined.
"Every game is a tough game in the Sun Belt," Adams said, pointing to a need to find points wherever the Eagles can get them. His forward group carries extra weight after the Eagles managed only 17 goals last season, their lowest total since 2020. Addison Comer returns as the team's leading scorer with four goals, joined by transfer Scarlett Hirschy, last year's Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year at Young Harris, and freshman Anna Braziunas, who scored more than 60 goals in her high school career at Parkview.
The Eagles return all three goalkeepers from a year ago and a backline anchored by three players who've each started more than 20 career matches. A four game road swing later this month includes a trip to Michigan, part of a nonconference slate Adams built deliberately tough ahead of a Sun Belt season that opens Sept. 13 against Arkansas State.
Georgia State: A Veteran Core Points Toward Birmingham
Georgia State opens at UAB Wednesday at 8 p.m., the sixth meeting between the two programs and the Panthers' first game since a 9-8-2 finish in 2025. Head coach Ed Joyce returns a leadership group built around three players who each started all 19 matches a year ago. Senior Aaliyah Faddoul, a 2025 First Team All-Sun Belt pick who led the Panthers with 17 points, enters her final season as team captain. Vice captains Carys Fraser and Abby Kilman, both 2026 Preseason All-Sun Belt selections in Fraser's case, return alongside her.
Thirteen newcomers join the roster this fall, seven freshmen, five transfers and a graduate student, filling in around that returning core. Georgia State hosts Truett McConnell for Senior Night on Aug. 16, four days after opening the year in Birmingham. I will have the call for Georgia State's matches on ESPN+ this season, starting with the September 13 match at home against Gardner-Webb at 6 p.m.
Kennesaw State: The Youngest Roster Faces the Toughest Test First
Kennesaw State opens on the road Wednesday at 8 p.m. against No. 21 Memphis, the second straight year the Owls have started their season against the Tigers, who are coming off a 17-1-3 season that climbed as high as third nationally. That's a lot to ask early. It's a demanding first test for a roster that turned over significantly: ten departures gave way to ten incoming freshmen and a sophomore transfer, meaning 17 of the 26 players on this year's team are underclassmen.
Head coach Chris Cahill has leaned into international recruiting to rebuild the roster, particularly out of Canada. Four Canadians joined the program this year, from British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Quebec, joining freshman Julia Balchen, the first Canadian to play for Cahill in Kennesaw. Two more freshmen bring their own international résumés: Natalie Bruno and Sian Kellier have each played internationally, for the Dominican Republic and Jamaica respectively.
The experience that remains is concentrated in a small group. Junior Delaney Edwards, a TopDrawerSoccer Conference USA Breakout Candidate this preseason, and defensive midfielder Sydni Whitehead, who's started in all 55 matches she's played in a Kennesaw State uniform, are the players a young roster will lean on most as it opens against one of the best teams in the country.
Georgia: The State's Highest Ranked Team Waits One More Day
Georgia opens its 32nd season Thursday at 7 p.m. at Illinois, the ninth season-opening road date in program history and the only one of the state's six openers not played on Wednesday. The Bulldogs enter ranked 19th by United Soccer Coaches and 25th by TopDrawerSoccer, the program's sixth preseason ranking ever, and they're returning 64.5 percent of their minutes from a team that finished third in the SEC a year ago.
Senior midfielder Kiera Staude, a 2025 Second Team All-SEC selection coming off a career high six goals, leads a group that also includes fifth year defender Assa Kante, ranked 43rd nationally by TopDrawerSoccer, and a transfer class headlined by Honoka Hamano, a Second Team All-Big 12 pick last season at UCF. Head coach Keidane McAlpine has built one of the more demanding schedules in the country around it, including a fifth straight season opening against the reigning national champion, Florida State, on Sept. 3, plus a trip to College Cup semifinalist TCU the week before.
The only Bulldog who'll feel entirely at home in Champaign is a sophomore who isn't on the home team. Goalkeeper Hannah Folliard grew up in Plainfield, Illinois, just over 100 miles away, and she'll play her first college match in her home state Thursday night, on the road, in the away locker room.
Madison Crews will be on the call for most of Georgia's broadcasts this season. You'll be able to watch the Bulldogs across ESPNU, the SEC Network, and SEC Network+.
Five programs start the 2026 season on Wednesday. The sixth follows Thursday night. By Sunday, four of the six are already back in action: Georgia at Minnesota, Georgia State hosting Truett McConnell for Senior Night, Georgia Southern home against FGCU, and Mercer on the road at West Georgia in Carrollton.
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