SPRING REVIEW: Eagles Get Back To Basics During Spring Slate
4/26/2026 4:25:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Head coach Chris Adams sees progress with women's soccer squad over four Spring matches
STATESBORO - Georgia Southern head women's soccer coach Chris Adams and the Eagles wrapped up the Spring campaign a couple of weeks ago and learned a lot about themselves over the course of four matches.
"We ran the gamut," Coach Adams said about his Spring slate. "We played an NCAA Division II opponent, where we expected to have success; a Clemson team that stretched us quite a bit, and had matches against North Florida and Mercer that are comparable with us. Each one served a different purpose."
The Eagles began the Spring with a 1-0 win over Mercer, with Kaitlin Cook getting the game-winning goal. "I would call it a comfortable 1-0 result," Coach Adams said. "I was pleased that we only gave up three chances on the day. Two of which came on corner kicks and one long-distance shot. We never really felt threatened, which was good."
The Clemson match followed, and Coach Adams compared that match to "taking a cumulative final exam in the middle of the semester." Despite the loss to the P4 Tigers, "A lot was learned and I was pleased that we were able to get a goal out of that game. I would like to see us be a little bit tidier and not gift them goals; they're good enough on their own that they don't need our help."
After Spring Break, the Eagles returned to action with a 5-0 win at Division II foe Georgia College. "We moved the ball extremely quickly, created dangerous chances and put our opponent away - it was 3-0 after the first 15 minutes. I was pleased with the fast start. That's something we did not do a lot of in the Fall."
The last game was a narrow 2-1 loss to North Florida in Jacksonville. "We conceded just 35 seconds in,' Coach Adams said. "And we did a good job digging out of the hole to tie it before halftime. We gave up the second goal in the second half, it wasn't an insurmountable lead, but we need to be the team playing ahead. Not a terrible performance, but not our best performance of the Spring."
In a change from previous Spring campaigns, Coach Adams and the Eagles did not tinker much with different formations, instead working solely to learn just one formation inside and out. "We lost a bit of identity in the Fall. So we went with the objective of not experimenting too much and just learning one formation to the best of our ability. Based off of our year-end meetings, many of our student-athletes expressed that they now felt extremely comfortable in where they needed to be, both offensively and defensively."
One big difference for the Eagles heading into the Fall of 2026 is that, for the first time in two seasons, Georgia Southern will have an experienced squad - heading into the season with seven seniors and seven juniors."We've been playing with underclassman but now we have upperclassmen at every spot on the roster," Coach Adams said. "And that experience is invaluable as we get ready for the 2026 season."
