University of Georgia Athletics
Photo by: Conor Dillon/UGAAA
Deep, Talented Bulldogs Ready To Get Started
August 12, 2026 | Soccer, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
The excitement for the Georgia women's soccer team's home opener on Aug. 20 at Sanford Stadium is ramping up. The Bulldogs are doing promotional videos with the football team, head coach Keidane McAlpine was at an Atlanta Braves game recently talking about it, and the players are definitely super excited about the prospect of playing in front of the largest crowd in collegiate soccer history.
"We can't stop talking about it," senior defender Assa Kante said. "This is a dream to play in front of that many people. We're all just super excited to have the opportunity to play in such a big stadium and try and make history."
The NCAA record for the largest crowd to see a collegiate soccer game is 14,410 for the women and 22,512 for the men. Georgia wants to blow past all of those. If you haven't grabbed your free tickets yet, you can do so here: https://georgiadogs.evenue.net/events/SS.
But the big game at Georgia's historic football stadium isn't the only reason for excitement as this soccer season gets rolling this week with games at Illinois on Thursday and Minnesota on Sunday. The Bulldogs, ranked No. 19 in the U.S. Soccer Coaches preseason poll, return loads of talented players with experience and also have a lot of freshmen who could be difference-makers.
"It's a really good group," McAlpine said. "Our internationals, especially (Honoka Hamano) and Emma (Pettersen), have added a level of professionalism and composure, things I think we needed to give us an older feel. Same thing with Gabbi (Ceballos); her experience and composure are things I think this team needed because we have so many young players."
Hamano, from Tokyo, is a senior midfielder who played at Memphis as a freshman and spent the next two years at UCF, where she was second-team All-Big 12 last season. Ceballos, also a senior midfielder, played the past two seasons at LSU, where she started a combined 38 games and made the SEC All-Tournament Team in 2025. Before that, she attended TCU as a freshman.
Petterson, a graduate transfer forward from Middle Tennessee, scored nine goals and assisted on five more for the Blue Raiders last season and was named first-team All-Conference USA. In her four seasons at Middle Tennessee — one was limited to six games because of an injury — she started 55 games, scored 17 goals and had nine assists.
Last season, Pettersen put 44.4% of her shot attempts on goal, leading the nation in shooting accuracy. She said she tried to play a bit like another Norwegian, men's superstar Erling Haaland, who doesn't get loads of touches or attempts, but he makes the most of his chances. He scored seven of Norway's 13 goals in the World Cup,
"He's a striker; I'm a striker," said Petterson, from Kristiansand, Norway. "I think it was one game in the World Cup that he touched the ball five times, but he still managed to score. I think it's impressive how he can do that. It's like he doesn't need a lot, but he still makes it somehow, and that's kind of what I want to try to do. I want to be as efficient as I can."
Georgia's roster features eighteen freshmen or sophomores, and 13 players who are juniors, seniors or fifth-years. Of the 10 sophomores, many of them played key roles as freshmen a year ago. Mya Townes started 17 games and had three goals and assists. Lily Kate Elphick was third on the team with four goals. Maddy Herniter started 17 games and was one of the anchors of the defense, as was goalkeeper Hannah Folliard, who started all 21 games in goal.
Folliard was in goal because returning starter Jordan Brown was out for the season with an injury, which means Georgia now has two veteran goalkeepers plus sophomore Victoria Saah.
"We'll probably split some games, split some time early, and slowly but surely find a rhythm for the group," McAlpine said. "Hannah is going to start against Illinois, J.B. is probably going to have the Minnesota game, and then we'll kind of push our way from there."
Having multiple goalkeepers he's confident in starting, McAlpine said, "is a great problem to have."
Back in November, when the Georgia soccer team announced its most recent signing class, a couple of things stood out. One, six of the seven incoming freshmen were enrolling early and joining the team for spring practice. Two, four of the signees already have some youth national team experience. Several of last season's freshmen also played on either U-17 or U-20 national teams, as well.
The good part of that is the experience the players get competing with and against some of the best players their age in the world. The bad is that sometimes the players are called up to their national teams during Georgia's season, which happened a couple of times in 2025.
"It's a delicate balance," McAlpine said. "We want to encourage those experiences, and we will continue to encourage those experiences."
McAlpine, entering his fifth season with the Bulldogs, has made Georgia better and deeper. A lot of injuries last season cut into that depth, as did having players away with national teams, but as he and his staff bring in more and more elite talent, the depth will only continue to build.
"I think we've got more good players, and because of the success of the freshmen last year. we recognize these freshmen can handle more weight throughout the season. I feel like it's a deeper squad, for sure," McAlpine said. "Positionally, there's competition in every spot, from goalkeeper to forward, and everybody's got to compete and push because the next player could take the spot."
Staff Writer
The excitement for the Georgia women's soccer team's home opener on Aug. 20 at Sanford Stadium is ramping up. The Bulldogs are doing promotional videos with the football team, head coach Keidane McAlpine was at an Atlanta Braves game recently talking about it, and the players are definitely super excited about the prospect of playing in front of the largest crowd in collegiate soccer history.
"We can't stop talking about it," senior defender Assa Kante said. "This is a dream to play in front of that many people. We're all just super excited to have the opportunity to play in such a big stadium and try and make history."
The NCAA record for the largest crowd to see a collegiate soccer game is 14,410 for the women and 22,512 for the men. Georgia wants to blow past all of those. If you haven't grabbed your free tickets yet, you can do so here: https://georgiadogs.evenue.net/events/SS.
But the big game at Georgia's historic football stadium isn't the only reason for excitement as this soccer season gets rolling this week with games at Illinois on Thursday and Minnesota on Sunday. The Bulldogs, ranked No. 19 in the U.S. Soccer Coaches preseason poll, return loads of talented players with experience and also have a lot of freshmen who could be difference-makers.
"It's a really good group," McAlpine said. "Our internationals, especially (Honoka Hamano) and Emma (Pettersen), have added a level of professionalism and composure, things I think we needed to give us an older feel. Same thing with Gabbi (Ceballos); her experience and composure are things I think this team needed because we have so many young players."
Hamano, from Tokyo, is a senior midfielder who played at Memphis as a freshman and spent the next two years at UCF, where she was second-team All-Big 12 last season. Ceballos, also a senior midfielder, played the past two seasons at LSU, where she started a combined 38 games and made the SEC All-Tournament Team in 2025. Before that, she attended TCU as a freshman.
Petterson, a graduate transfer forward from Middle Tennessee, scored nine goals and assisted on five more for the Blue Raiders last season and was named first-team All-Conference USA. In her four seasons at Middle Tennessee — one was limited to six games because of an injury — she started 55 games, scored 17 goals and had nine assists.
Last season, Pettersen put 44.4% of her shot attempts on goal, leading the nation in shooting accuracy. She said she tried to play a bit like another Norwegian, men's superstar Erling Haaland, who doesn't get loads of touches or attempts, but he makes the most of his chances. He scored seven of Norway's 13 goals in the World Cup,
"He's a striker; I'm a striker," said Petterson, from Kristiansand, Norway. "I think it was one game in the World Cup that he touched the ball five times, but he still managed to score. I think it's impressive how he can do that. It's like he doesn't need a lot, but he still makes it somehow, and that's kind of what I want to try to do. I want to be as efficient as I can."
Georgia's roster features eighteen freshmen or sophomores, and 13 players who are juniors, seniors or fifth-years. Of the 10 sophomores, many of them played key roles as freshmen a year ago. Mya Townes started 17 games and had three goals and assists. Lily Kate Elphick was third on the team with four goals. Maddy Herniter started 17 games and was one of the anchors of the defense, as was goalkeeper Hannah Folliard, who started all 21 games in goal.
Folliard was in goal because returning starter Jordan Brown was out for the season with an injury, which means Georgia now has two veteran goalkeepers plus sophomore Victoria Saah.
"We'll probably split some games, split some time early, and slowly but surely find a rhythm for the group," McAlpine said. "Hannah is going to start against Illinois, J.B. is probably going to have the Minnesota game, and then we'll kind of push our way from there."
Having multiple goalkeepers he's confident in starting, McAlpine said, "is a great problem to have."
Back in November, when the Georgia soccer team announced its most recent signing class, a couple of things stood out. One, six of the seven incoming freshmen were enrolling early and joining the team for spring practice. Two, four of the signees already have some youth national team experience. Several of last season's freshmen also played on either U-17 or U-20 national teams, as well.
The good part of that is the experience the players get competing with and against some of the best players their age in the world. The bad is that sometimes the players are called up to their national teams during Georgia's season, which happened a couple of times in 2025.
"It's a delicate balance," McAlpine said. "We want to encourage those experiences, and we will continue to encourage those experiences."
McAlpine, entering his fifth season with the Bulldogs, has made Georgia better and deeper. A lot of injuries last season cut into that depth, as did having players away with national teams, but as he and his staff bring in more and more elite talent, the depth will only continue to build.
"I think we've got more good players, and because of the success of the freshmen last year. we recognize these freshmen can handle more weight throughout the season. I feel like it's a deeper squad, for sure," McAlpine said. "Positionally, there's competition in every spot, from goalkeeper to forward, and everybody's got to compete and push because the next player could take the spot."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
Players Mentioned
Goalkeeper
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Midfielder
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Goalkeeper
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Midfielder
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Defender
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Defender
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Goalkeeper
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Forward
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