|
|
|
 Panther Alumni |
|
Follow the College Playing Careers of Former Panthers
Where are they now???? Some of our Nease teammates have gone on to play in college. Here's what's happening with them.
Lauren Groves - Flagler College
Fall 2006 Update -
Lauren is enjoying her second season as the starting defender for the Flagler College Saints team in St. Augustine. Flagler will be moving up to Division II.
Jenna Silverberg - Western Kentucky
Fall 2006 Update -
Jenna was joined at WKU this season by sister Jamie. Jenna has added to her already long list of school records at WKU with new school records for career goals and points this season!
Monday, October 23
Nikki Lombardo - Western Carolina
Fall 2006 Update
Nikki is having a great freshman season. She is starting at midfield and WCU is currently in second place in the Southern Conference.
Nikki recently scored an amazing golden goal in OT to beat UT Chattanooga 1-0.
 | | Courtesy of WCU |
Monday, October 23
Lauren Crossan - Georgia Southern
Fall 2006 Update
Lauren is having a great freshman year at Georgia Southern. She has played some outside midfield but has mostly started at forward. She is currently third on the team in scoring. GSU is much improved this year and the team is striving for their first Southern Conference post-season appearance since 2002.
 | | Courtesy of GSU |
Monday, October 23
Jamie Silverberg - Western Kentucky
Fall 2006 Update
Jamie is having a great freshman season at WKU where she is the starting defender. The season is winding down and WKU is currently 4th in the Sunbelt Conference.
 | | Courtesy of WKU |
Monday, October 23
Erin Hoover - Stetson University
Fall 2006 Update
Erin is red-shirting her freshman year as she recovers from an injury. We look to see great things from her in 2007!
 | | Coutesy of Stetson U |
Ali Mims - Florida State University
Fall 2006 UPDATE -
Ali continues her amazing career at FSU. The team was ranked number 1 in the nation for a short time early this season and has stayed in the top 5.
Read Ali's FSU bio.
Read this wonderful piece on Ali from the FSU website.
***
Ali is an 'all-world' goalie. She is the best goalkeeper to ever come out of north Florida and when she is healthy one of the best to play the game. She earned a starting spot at Florida State as a freshman in the 2001 season when freshman keeper Kerry York went down with an injury in the NC State game. Ali made some unbelieveable stops in that game including one against German National team player Annika Schmidt. This quote from the FSU website gives us a glimpse of the type of player and person Ali is, "This is the most exciting day for me," said Mims who picked her first career win Sunday. "Kerry hurt herself in warm-ups and when she went down in the game I knew it was my time to step in and help my team out. I wanted to show the fans, the coaches and the whole program what I could do. It is very difficult mentally to come in during a tie game but I knew the team needed me to step up and that is what I tried to do." Ali definitely stepped up and seized the moment!
Once York was healthy, she and Ali rotated playing time. Ali had a spectacular run of successes that first season and had some huge saves in big games. Wins against Miami, a first-ever win over Duke, Ali's first college shutout against USF, Louisville.... against Virginia in the ACC semi-finals, Ali made three game-savers in overtime including one against Virginia's two-time ACC player of the year, Lori Lindsay. Ali played in high-pressure games against UNC for the ACC Championship and Clemson in the NCAA Tournament. Florida State ended the season ranked 11th in the National Polls, the highest national ranking ever in the school's history.
From the start, 2002 looked to be Ali's breakout year. FSU came in ranked number 10 in pre-season polls and Ali had worked hard over the summer to be ready. In FSU's first pre-season match against Georgia, Ali was given the starting nod over Kerry York. Just barely five minutes into the game, Ali was going after a loose ball and collided with a Georgia player breaking her tibia. The injury tragically ended Ali's season.
Ali is on a long road to recovery and has suffered many trials and setbacks along the way. She has the strong support of her family, her teammates, coaches, friends and the many, many soccer fans who don't know Ali personally but have been awed by the things she has done on the field and are equally inspired by her tenacity, her will and her drive to make it back.
Lydia Sturgis - College of William and Mary
Fall 2006 UPDATE -
Lydia's college playing days have ended. She enjoyed a great career at William and Mary helping them to achieve the highest team rankings in their history.
Nicole Eckensberger - Elmhurst College
Fall 2006 Update -
Nicole has left Elmhurst College and returned to sunny Jacksonville.
Natalie Gillespie - Columbus State University
Fall 2006 Update -
Natalie has left Columbus State and has returned home here to Jacksonville.
Kat Casey - University of North Carolina, Asheville
Kat played for Nease from 1991-94 and went on to a hugely successful playing career at the University of North Carolina in Asheville where she played from 1995-98. She was selected second team all-conference in 1997 and 1998. The team was either Big South Champions or runners-up for the 4 years she played there.
Jen Supko - University of North Carolina, Asheville
Jen has left the UNC Asheville team and is taking some time away from the game. She is attending Santa Fe Community College.
Meredith Ringeisen - Western Kentucky
Meredith has left the WKU team and is not playing college soccer right now. She is attending Santa Fe Community College.
|
|
