GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — The Tusculum University women’s soccer team kicks off its 2025 season this week with a two-match road swing to Ohio.
Third-year head coach Vanessa Fyffe welcomes back eight full-time starters from last year’s squad, which finished with a 4-11-1 overall record and a 2-8-1 mark in the South Atlantic Conference. The roster of 37 players includes 10 players who will be making their Tusculum debuts.
Tusculum will visit Thomas More in the season opener on Thursday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m., followed by a trip to Ohio Dominican on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 9:30 a.m. The Pioneers host West Alabama in their home opener on Sunday, Sept. 14 at noon at Pioneer Field.
MEET THE PIONEERS
Senior Sydney Grant (Schaumburg, Ill.) scored four goals and had a team-high five assists for 13 points in 16 matches last season. A second-team All-SAC selection in 2023, Grant has 13 goals and 11 assists for 37 points in 48 career matches (all starts).
Sophomore Addison Rishling (Wonder Lake, Ill.) is a preseason All-SAC pick after earning second-team All-SAC honors as a freshman. Rishling led the team with seven goals and 14 points in 14 matches, with three of her goals standing up as match winners.
Junior Tanna Bookhamer (Greeneville, Tenn.) has played all 32 matches in her first two years with the Pioneers, making 25 starts, and has two goals and two assists. A versatile player, Bookhamer has played both defense and forward during her Tusculum career.
Junior McKenzie Hanson (Oxford, Ohio) has played in 32 career matches with the Pioneers, making eight starts. Sophomore Aniya Fisher (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) scored one goal and had one assist in 11 matches as a freshman. Also returning are sophomores Maia Scott (Auckland, New Zealand) and Ellie Bielenda (Wheaton, Ill.) who saw time off the bench last season.
Junior Hannah Oliver (Guthrie, Ky.) is joined by several newcomers in sophomore Carme Escamilla (Barcelona, Spain) and freshmen Aitana Arrechea (Benidorm, Spain) and Hope Roberts (Clarksville, Ohio). Escamilla played 20 matches at Cowley College last season, collecting one assist on 25 shot attempts.
In the midfield, grad student Wilma Axelsson (Ytterby, Sweden) is a SAC Player to Watch after starting 11 matches last season and collecting two goals and two assists. In three seasons with the Pioneers, Axelsson has two goals and three assists for seven points in 43 games (25 starts).
Senior Adriana Netskos (Sarnia, Ont.) started 15 matches last season and scored two goals, boosting her career total to four goals and an assist in 35 career matches (28 starts).
Senior Marin Wills (Lexington, Ky.) has appeared in 18 matches across two seasons with seven starts, with senior Nara Santos (Altura, Portugal) having three career appearances. Senior Natali Maymon (Gal’ed, Israel) joins Tusculum after playing in four matches at Limestone last season.
Junior Lillie Clifton (Portland, Tenn.) appeared in 15 matches and 336 minutes off the bench last season, with junior Juliana Garrison (Franklin, Tenn.) playing in 190 minutes across 11 matches. Junior Isabella Reynolds (Pascagoula, Miss.) played two years at Mississippi Gulf Coast CC, collecting a total of nine goals and 13 assists in 29 matches.
Sophomore Riley Bradley (Hernando Beach, Fla.) played in four matches last season for the Pioneers and sophomore Kirsten Sadlon (Morristown, Tenn.) was on the field for a total of six matches.
Sophomore Dulce Zuluaga (Medellin, Colombia) comes to Tusculum from St. Andrews where she played in 15 matches last season, with 12 starts. Freshman Amya Parker (Cincinnati, Ohio) also joins the Pioneer program this fall.
Leading the defense is four-year starter and two-time team Most Valuable Player Marja Enste (Aachen, Germany). The senior was a SAC Player to Watch in the preseason and has started all 50 games of her Tusculum career, collecting a goal and seven assists. Enste has led the Pioneers in minutes played in all three years, and played all 90 minutes in 13 out of 16 games last season.
Senior Brynn Stokes (Cincinnati, Ohio) has started every match each of the last two seasons, scoring four goals and two assists while ranking among the team leaders in minutes played both seasons.
Sophomore Hailey Silvestri (Peterborough, Ont.) started all 16 matches last season on defense, while junior Caroline Heintzelman (Marietta, Ga.) played in all 16 matches with five starts and collected a pair of assists.
Senior Bree Ooten (Jefferson City, Tenn.) played in seven matches last season and sophomore Mackenzie Ivy (Knoxville, Tenn.) had 10 appearances a year ago. They will be joined off the bench by junior Kyndal Rollo (Athens, Tenn.) and sophomore Lotta Natschke (Aachen, Germany). Freshmen Addison Clouthier (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and Laila McCowan (Fairfield, Ohio) are first-year members of the program.
In goal, junior Noemie Tartrou (Herblay-sur-Seine, France) made five starts last season and had a 1-6-0 record with a 3.38 goals against average and 48 saves in 506 minutes of playing time. Senior Mikayla Weems (Greeneville, Tenn.) and junior Holly Cowan (Thatcham, England) also return from last year’s squad.
