STATESBORO - Georgia Southern goalkeeper Katie Oakley has had a lot on her plate while playing soccer for the Eagles in her career. But she would not trade it for anything.

The Covington, Ga., native started playing soccer when she was just five years old, wanting to do so because her best friend that she met in pre school was also doing it. "I told her, 'I want to do it with you!' I wanted to do everything with her."

That wasn't the only sport that Katie ended up playing when she was growing up. She learned to swim and even swam competitively up until she was 12. She also played volleyball in high school and ran track in middle school. When it came down to what sport she was going to pick, however, soccer was a natural choice for her.

"It was a tough decision between soccer and swimming, my main two sports, but my love for soccer was more," she said.

Continuing on through high school at Eastside and also for her club, GSA, soon it was clear that she would want to pursue soccer collegiately. There were two factors leading into her decision to choose Statesboro and the Eagles, however.

"Deep down, I realized that I did not want to leave the state of Georgia," Katie said. "And I'm not going to lie - I did not want to go to Georgia State," she says with a laugh. "Southern over State!"

A call from her club coach to Georgia Southern head women's soccer coach Chris Adams resulted in him coming to one of her matches, where she had one of her best performances, unaware that Coach Adams was in attendance. "After that, I came on a visit, took a tour and Georgia Southern just felt like home to me. I grew up in Covington, and Statesboro was giving me the same feelings. It really felt like home to me."

it didn't take long for Katie and the Eagles to experience success as Georgia Southern won the Sun Belt Conference regular season championship in 2022, which was her freshman season. And the match that clinched that title was a 1-0 win at Georgia State, ranking among one of her favorite memories of her Georgia Southern career. "It was a lot nicer, winning that in their home," Katie admits.

In her Georgia Southern career, Katie has played in 37 matches, making 146 career saves and sporting a 1.20 career GAA. She has 10 shutouts, which is tied for fourth all-time for the Eagles, and her 1.20 GAA ranks third all-time. 

And she has done all of this while studying mechanical engineering. Not a typical major for a collegiate student-athlete. 

"I will say, it did take me some time to get the hang of playing soccer and doing everything I needed to do for school," Katie said. "It didn't start out the greatest, but I was able to find my way by really paying attention to time management."

She has already participated in one internship related to her mechanical engineering degree, which she is on track to complete in May of 2026. "I did an internship over the summer in Warner Robins, and really enjoyed it," Katie said. "They also enjoyed me and were giving me good recommendations."

Redshirting her sophomore season in 2023 after an injury means that Katie will be returning to the Eagles to play in 2024. But she knows that time with the team will eventually come to an end, and she will definitely miss Statesboro and her teammates. "Here, I felt like it was a whole family. I will miss that family feeling with the team the most."

Katie has one piece of advice to Eagle Nation and the future Eagles who will follow in her footsteps. "Keep working hard," Katie said. "You're going to get through your struggles if you just do that. So definitely keep working!"