Women’s Volleyball

Record: 9-18

Peach Belt Finish: 3-9 (6th)

First-year head coach Lauren Baufield fielded a very young Patriot squad in 2017 with only two seniors and more than half the squad being freshmen.  Junior Georgia Garrison was named to the All-Conference Team and received the prestigious Elite 15 Award presented by the Education Advisory Board (EAB) for having the highest grade point average (4.00) among those student-athletes participating in the PBC Tournament. Garrison and junior Carrie McGinnis both earned PBC All-Academic Team recognition, and Garrison was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District 3 Team for the second year in a row. During the regular season, senior Shelbi Meek surpassed 1,000 career digs. Meek and McGinnis were both inducted into Gamma Sigma Epsilon, the chemistry honor society.

Men’s Soccer

Record: 6-9-0

Peach Belt Finish: 1-6-0 (Tied-7th)

It was a hard-liuck season for the men’s soccer team. Six of the team’s losses were by one goal. Junior forward Levin Sandmann earned All-Conference honors for the third time, the fifth time a Patriot has accomplished that feat. He finished with 33 career goals. Sandmann, senior Harrison Smith, and sophomore Matthew Bainbridge were selected to the PBC All-Academic Team.

Women’s Soccer

Record: 5-9-0

Peach Belt Finish: 2-8-0 (Tied-8th)

The Patriots showed improvement from their 2016 season, allowing half as many goals as in the previous season, and nearly half as many shots. The young squad included only two seniors and one junior, and the team’s top three scorers were all freshmen. Junior Janine Gordon and sophomores Sierra Cartano, Jessica Garnett, Carli Gauthier, and Micahla Kitchen were all selected to the PBC All-Academic Team.

Men’s Cross Country

Peach Belt Finish:  7th

The Patriots placed 20th at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championships. During the regular season, FMU won the Division II portion of the Carolina Challenge meet in Columbia and placed third at the Koala Classic Cross Country Invitational also in Columbia. Seniors Javier Bustos Jaimes and Devin Nelson and junior Carlos Oliver were selected to the PBC All-Academic Team. Bustos Jaimes won the individual title at the Koala Classic.

Women’s Cross Country

Peach Belt Finish: 8th

Francis Marion placed 21st at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championships. During the regular season, FMU won the Division II portion of the Carolina Challenge meet in Columbia and placed fourth at the Koala Classic Cross Country Invitational also in Columbia. Senior MacKenzie Arnold and sophomores Alexis Byers, Emma Driggers, and Jasmine Watson were named to the PBC All-Academic Team.

Men’s Golf

The Patriots played in five events during the fall season and posted a pair of Top-10 finishes, including a fifth-place showing at the Camden Collegiate Classic hosted by USC. Junior Lars Sandvoll leds the squad with a 73.6 stroke average in the fall. FMU will play in six tournaments this spring, including its own annual Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate.

Baseball

Record: 29-19

Peach Belt Finish: 9-15 (Tied-10th)

FMU registered its best start in program history (10-0) and was ranked as high as No.12 in one national poll.  Senior right-handed pitcher Chance DuCharme and sophomore lefty Arien Seymour both earned PBC All-Academic Team recognition.  DuCharme tied the Patriot career record for pitching appearances with 64.  After graduation, DuCharme signed a professional contract with the Lake Erie Crushers of the independent Frontier League.  He joins five other former Patriots currently playing professional baseball. Junior outfielder Reese Cooley led FMU at the plate in 2017 with a .343 average, 10 home runs, and 43 runs batted in.

 

Softball

Record:  27-22

Peach Belt Finish: 9-15 (Tied-8th)

Senior outfielder Briana Barzola was named to the PBC All-Conference Team after leading FMU and ranking sixth in the conference with a .397 batting average.  Barzola, sophomore shortstop Taylor Johnson, and sophomore catcher Chelsea Welty all garnered PBC All-Academic Team accolades.  Barzola, Johnson, Welty, sophomore Caroline Heaton, and freshmen Shania Domingue, Morgan Elliott, and Sydney Holland, are all in line to receive Academic All-America honors later this year.  Holland, a freshman right-hander, led FMU in the pitching circle with a 13-13 record and a 2.45 earned run average.

 

Men’s Tennis

Record:  7-9

Peach Belt Finish:  3-7 (Tied-7th)

Francis Marion finished with a season-ending No.38 national ranking – the 22nd consecutive year the Patriots have appeared in the final poll. Senior Richard Ashforth became only the 11th male player in PBC history to register All-Conference honors all four years. He ranked 21st in the final 2017 Division II singles rankings, and ended his FMU career tied for seventh in program history with 54 singles wins. Senior Jannik Roettlingsberger and sophomore Tarass Thevenaz were named to the PBC All-Academic Team.  Roettlingsberger, Thevenaz, and freshmen Henri Broeseler and Mauricio Gonzalez are all in line to receive Academic All-America accolades, while the team will garner an ITA Team Academic Award later this year.

 

Women’s Tennis

Record: 14-9

Peach Belt Finish: 8-4 (Tied-4th)

The Patriots earned a season-ending No.23 national ranking after making the program’s ninth appearance in an NCAA Division II national tournament regional final over the past 11 years. Senior Samantha Koelliker became just the 14th four-time All-Conference performer in PBC history, while also finishing the year ranked 22nd in NCAA II singles. She finished sixth on the FMU career singles victories list with a 62-21 mark and tied for third in doubles wins at 69-22. Koelliker and sophomore Marie Krueger also gained All-Conference honors for their doubles play and ended the year ranked 15th nationally.  Koelliker, Krueger, junior Sofia Henning, and sophomores Anilu Barraza Araiza and Anna Wintrich all garnered PBC All-Academic Team recognition. Those five will also gain Academic All-America recognition and the squad will earn an ITA Team Academic Award later this year.  The team earned the 2017 PBC Team Sportsmanship Award for women’s tennis. 

 

Awards & Honors

Senior men’s soccer player Tommy Kues received the Ray E. Thames Memorial Raise the Roof Award, while junior women’s soccer player Melina Much was the recipient of the Carlanna Hendrick Swamp Fox Academic Award…..Thirteen Patriot student-athletes were named to the university’s chapter of Chi Alpha Sigma, national college athlete honor society. …. Ninety-three FMU student-athletes were placed on the PBC Presidential Honor Roll for 2016-17, while 92 were named to the FMU Swamp Fox Athletic-Academic Honor Roll for the 2017 spring semester, including 15 with perfect 4.00 grade point averages. … Golfers Alessandro Caselli and Marc Casullo were named Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-American Scholars for the 2016-17 season. A total of 18 student-athletes earned academic All-America honors, or its equivalent, during the 2016-17 year. …. Former women’s basketball player Eboni Fields (’10) helped the Georgia Soul win the Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League (WBCBL) 2017 title. … Former FMU Women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell won her 1,000th collegiate game this fall. Hatchell now coaches at the University of North Carolina.