Bolivar, Mo. – The women's soccer team at Southwest Baptist University looks forward to kicking off their fall season, following a 2024 season which included conference wins over Quincy University and Truman State University. Their regular season kicks off on Thursday, September 4 at 3:00 pm. The Bearcats will look to start their season with a home win against the Missouri Southern Lions.

Andrew Percic returns for his second year as the head coach for the SBU women's soccer team. During his first year, he helped the Bearcats reach a record number of GLVC Athletes of the Week Awards. Percic will be joined by first year graduate assistant Loris Tsiatsipy.

Leading the way for the team will be captains Annabelle Shuler, Tamerra Gantt, and Sam Short. Shuler, a junior, is returning for her third year at SBU. The two-time GLVC Academic Award winner led the team in minutes played and tied the team lead for goals in 2024. While Shuler leads the midfield line, her co-captain, senior Tamerra Gantt, will lead the attack. Gantt comes off a 2024 season where she was the other of SBU's leading scorer. Including the winning goal against Truman State which won her GLVC Offensive Player of the Week. Of course, the trio of captains would not be complete without the leader of the defensive line, Sam Short. The senior returns for her fourth year as a Bearcat. In 2024, Short played 1,138 minutes across 16 games and added one assist. Together, the trio looks to lead SBU to a successful 2025 season.

Some other top returners include goalkeeper Cece Alexander and defender Jadyn Clark. Alexander is in just her sophomore year and already on the hunt for some SBU records. In her first season, she started in 12 games posting 95 saves, one of the most by a freshman in school history. She also won GLVC Defensive Player of the Week last September after posting a shutout against Missouri St. Louis. Clark returns for her fourth and final season as a Bearcat. She returns with the second most minutes played by any SBU returner and has the most by a Bearcat defender.  

The women's soccer team has brought in some new faces to combat the loss of the graduated seniors. One of these new faces is graduate student Holly Schneider. Schneider most recently played for Lindenwood University in 2021. SBU also adds six incoming freshmen to the women's soccer team. Two of these freshmen, Addison Shuler and Jillian Hermann, join their sisters who are already on the team.