PHOTO BY ALLYSON BUSCH| THE SIGNAL
After coming off her best season in Panthers blue last year, Georgia State women’s soccer forward Ashley Nagy, a junior majoring in medical science, looks to carry that form into this season.
She wears uniform number 9 for Georgia State, which is traditionally reserved for the team’s main striker. Women’s soccer forward and medical science major Ashley Nagy has earned this jersey after just coming off her best season for the Panthers, where she posted a career best of eight goals and three assists.
Last season, Nagy’s form really started to heat up toward the latter half of the season during the competitive conference games, where she was voted into the 2013 All Sun Belt First Team in women’s soccer.
“Those awards were from last year, so for me, it doesn’t really say much about this year,” Nagy said. “It just gives me high expectations for the season. I started getting my stuff together about the time conference [play] came around last year and scoring goals and working harder to be in shape to play to my maximum ability.”
So far, Nagy has only scored one goal this season. It came in the Aug. 25 game against in-state rival Kennesaw State. Nagy has been active in the final third, regularly posting shots on goal. She has set her sights on finding the back of the net for the Panthers a bit sooner in the season than last year.
“I definitely have higher expectations,” she said. “I definitely want to get more than eight goals and want to start the success way sooner and continue it throughout the year instead of just having a good end of the year.”
The team has had a slow start to the season this year, posting an overall record of 1-4-3 with a home record of 1-1-0 and an away record of 0-3-3. At times this season, some excellent performances have been undone by a lack of communication among the team.
“We need to be more cohesive as a team,” Nagy said.
Even with the team’s struggles, Nagy still tried to focus on the positives for the Panthers.
“What is working well is we all came in really in shape this year,” she said.” Everybody passed their fitness test so we’re going to be the most fit team playing. The soccer has been good for the most part, especially at practice. We just have to apply it to the games.”
With her increased production on the field, Nagy is becoming a leader within the Panthers which already boasts strong personalities within fellow upperclassmen Whitney Ravan and Margaret Bruemmer. Nagy relishes her role in the team, serving as its self-appointed morale officer.
“I think people do look to me as a leader,” Nagy said. “They look to me to bring the team together when we’re down. It’s more off the field when it comes to keeping everyone’s attitudes high and making sure everyone is staying focused in practice.”
If she can maintain her form similar to last season, Nagy would make life difficult for Sun Belt defenses this season.
