Senior Lauren Gassie has been a standout player on the Mercer Women’s Soccer Team since her first season in 2011. As a four-year starter in the midfield position, Gassie has always had a prominent role on the team.
Gassie is a native of Winter Park, Fla., where she played club and high school soccer since she was four years old. She verbally committed to Mercer her sophomore year after being recruited early in high school. After visiting the campus, she knew she wanted to play here.
“I visited the campus, loved the team and committed,” said Gassie. Conveniently, her favorite colors were already orange and black.
Gassie’s impact on the Mercer Women’s Soccer team has been evident throughout her three years of competition. In her freshman season, she made the Atlantic Sun Academic Team. Her sophomore year, she had a total of 19 points, six goals and seven assists. She was honored as a member of the Atlantic Sun Academic Team. Her junior year, she led the Mercer team in shots, scored four goals and tallied seven assists. She was named Atlantic Sun player of the week September 3 and was also named to the Atlantic Sun All-Conference Team.
Already this season, Gassie has started in all 11 contests, scored five goals, made three assists and has a total of 13 points. After her performance in the team’s 2-1 win over Presbyterian, Gassie was named Southern Conference Player of the Week for the week of September 16.
Gassie’s biggest goal for this season is to win conference and she hopes to help her team in any way she can.
“After being in the conference finals for two years, the senior class wants to finally get a ring and make it to the NCAA tournament,” said Gassie. “It is tough coming into a new conference because we don't know as much about the teams, but hopefully we can use our senior-heavy team to win it all.”
Coming into a new conference for her last season is challenging.
“The Southern Conference is strong, but the top teams in the SoCon are similar to the top teams in the Atlantic Sun,” said Gassie. “Samford and Furman will be our biggest competition.”
Both teammates and coaches value Gassie’s ability to score and work hard on the field. Donnie Gumble, strength and conditioning coach, is constantly impressed with her persistence on the field.
“Gassie has an uncanny ability to score on the field, which in unusual and impressive for her position,” said Gumble.
Although she is great player, she admits that she is not fond of running.
“I hate and I am awful at running and fitness,” said Gassie. “My coach says I have a west coast mentality.”
Roommate, friend and long time teammate Rachel Buffalo, another senior on the Mercer squad, is confident in Gassie’s abilities on the field.
“She’s been the spark in our offense this season and has been playing really well,” said Buffalo. “It’s been great living with her the last three years, and I’m glad I’ve found a friend that will last a lifetime.”
Although Gassie admits that her favorite thing to do on a Saturday night is play under the lights at Bear Field with her teammates, she is more than just a soccer player. Although athletics have taken up a majority of her life, she has many goals, hobbies and interests that are not sports-related.
Gassie enjoys seafood, especially seafood gumbo, blue crab and crawfish. Her guilty pleasures include Mountain Dew and Taco Bell. She also loves candy with her favorites being Reece’s Pieces and pink Zotz.
She enjoys listening to all music but her favorites are Justin Timberlake, Sam Smith and Dave Matthews. She enjoys going to Broadway shows, and her family has season tickets every year.
Besides being a fan of the Mercer University Bears, Gassie also cheers for the Louisiana State University Tigers. Her grandfather, dad, and uncles all went to school at LSU, so Gassie has been a long time fan of the Tigers.
Gassie majors in psychology with a minor in chemistry. In the future, she wishes to be a forensic psychologist. She also hopes to move back to Florida (or somewhere that is not cold) after she is finished with school.
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