This week, the Mid-South Conference champion University of the Cumberlands men’s and women’s soccer teams will host first and second round action in the 2024 NAIA National Championship Tournaments. For the Patriot women, it is an opportunity to take the next step in successfully defending the national championship banner that they won nearly twelve months ago.
UC is coming into this year’s NAIA Tournament as the team to beat, boasting an undefeated 17-0 record with 12 of those wins being clean sheets (shutouts) for the Pats.
The five games that weren’t clean sheets saw opponents scoring only a single goal, bringing this season’s cumulative score to 64 goals for, and just five goals against.
Not too shabby.
A big part of this overwhelming success has been senior goalkeeper Georgia Martell. Coming to Williamsburg from Australia, Martell has competed at the varsity level at UC for the past four seasons. She is a multiple-time MSC and NAIA Player of the Week, and she is a Daktronics-NAIA National Scholar Athlete. She ranks near the top in the program’s all-time career saves category, and earlier this week she took a few minutes to answer some questions before once again heading into national tournament competition.
NJ: Talk about the journey back to the NAIA Tournament this season.
GM: Going in last year, we had lost the conference tournament final. That was pretty tough for us, but it also helped us to redirect toward the national tournament. We played such a hard national championship game, and some might even say that we didn’t deserve to win it, but with our performances this year we have shown that we are the best team in the country and that we can continue to perform at a high level. It’s a credit to the whole group that we are giving up barely any goals and we’re scoring an insane amount of goals. I think that we have shown we’re set in the way that we want to play the game. We’re staying true to that, which is why I think we have been so successful, and why we will continue to be successful.
NJ: Thinking back to last year’s run that culminated with an NAIA title, what was that experience like?
GM: We were just taking it one day at a time. The semifinal was played a day before the final, so we didn’t really have much time to think about going into the national championship game. [After the win,] it didn’t sink in until we got back to the university and we had a celebration party. We were able to see then how excited everyone was, and how big it was for us to have the first red banner in school history.
NJ: What are your thoughts on how the team has managed to handle the pressure of being a defending national champion?
GM: From my freshman year to now it is such a different environment and vibe around the team. We just want to win. It’s not just coming from the coaching staff or the older players on the team. It is such a unified vision of our goals for the year, and we have a lot of fun together. We lean on each other a lot. It’s a pretty special group.
NJ: What is it like for you personally when you are out there in-goal, competing against other schools in the conference and the NAIA?
GM: I get to watch these girls play football in such a way that is really incredible. Seeing the dominance this year in comparison to past years, I have seen maybe half the shots that I would see in games during previous years.
NJ: Talk about your path from Australia to Williamsburg.
GM: I have played football/soccer my whole life. My dad played, and he was a goalkeeper as well, so it was just something that my parents always had me into.
I never wanted to be a goalkeeper, but I think around the age of 13-14 I started training a little bit more with private goalkeeping academies and I became more in love with the process of goalkeeping. It’s so unique, because you have to be good with your feet and have a good understanding of the game, but when it comes to technique there are so many different ways to do things.
I was told that going to college in America would be a different pathway to continue playing. I always wanted to leave Australia and see how I could change as a person, so I graduated high school in 2020 and went to a Division II school in South Carolina (Univ. of South Carolina – Aiken). I went there for just one semester.
I enjoyed my time there, but I am super-grateful that I was able to come here, and that I’m still here. We were able to get that first national championship for the school, and seeing the impact that had on the people here and how sport can change people’s lives… I’m just grateful. It’s changed my life.
NJ: What advice would you give to younger players hoping to be in your position one day?
GM: Honestly, a big part of it is just enjoying learning. There is so much that you don’t know, so just enjoy the learning and being able to get better. Don’t shy away from opportunities to learn, and just enjoy it. You only get so many games or so many training sessions.
NJ: What does this team need to do moving forward in order to successfully defend your national championship title?
GM: We have a full week of training to prepare for Saturday. We will continue to learn throughout the week, but mostly it’s just focusing on every day and every game. If you get too far ahead of yourself I think you’re just setting yourself up for failure. We just have to take it one day at a time.
NJ: What are your plans for the future?
GM: I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I’m looking into some options to play at home in Australia, or maybe here in the U.S., or maybe overseas in Europe. I think there is a new league in Canada too, so we’ll just see what happens, but I am not necessarily set on whether or not I am going to continue playing.
NJ: What degree are you pursuing?
GM: I am getting a degree in exercise science and public health.
NJ: Any words for the community with the NAIA Tournament games taking place on campus this week?
GM: It’s huge for both the men and the women to be hosting. We’ve both had really good seasons, and we’re super-excited to play in some really big games. It’s come down to the time of the year where you either win or go home, so there is going to be some really good competition. We’d love to see people come out.
The UC Patriot women will host their second round contest of the 2024 NAIA National Championship Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 23, at 6 p.m. The men will host their second round game earlier that same day, with a scheduled start time of 3 p.m.
For additional information, go online to www.cumberlandspatriots.com.
Photos courtesy of Univ. of the Cumberlands Sports Information
