Athletics Features

With their appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the 2021-2022 women’s basketball team broke numerous records for the program and university, including most wins, the first team to host a conference tournament game, and the first women’s team to be selected for the NCAA Tournament. Their final addition to the GSW record books was becoming the first Hurricane basketball team to win a game in the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Canes ultimately fell to Lander University in the second round after a hard-fought 61-50 game.

Women's basketball celebrates a win

GSW’s golf team ended their 2021-22 season in the NCAA Division II National Championship semifinals, marking their second consecutive Final Four appearance after finishing last year as National Runner-Up. The Hurricanes ended their season two strokes short of back-to-back National Championship appearances. Head Coach Darcy Donaldson was also named the 2021 NCAA DII Southeast Region Coach of the Year by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) for the second consecutive year and third time overall.

Darcy Donaldson coaches his players on the course

GSW’s student-athletes finished the 2021-22 year ranked first in the nation out of all NCAA Division II institutions in documented community service hours generated through the NCAA teamworks competition for a total of 4,337 hours. Men’s soccer finished with 1,586 hours, softball with 592 hours and baseball with 447 hours. Favorite volunteer spots include Magnolia Manor, food distribution in Plains, and the Phoebe Healthy Community Garden in Americus.

Men's basketball players volunteer at Magnolia Manor

Construction of the new baseball locker room was completed in April 2022. Located inside the new Training Facility, the locker room is fully outfitted with new lockers, TVs, showers, and Hurricane branding from floor to ceiling. All 44 lockers were sponsored by GSW baseball supporters and bear the names of those honored by the sponsorship.

New baseball locker room

Former GSW All-America selection Vincent Norrman earned an invitation to play on the PGA Tour for the 2022-23 season following his success on the Korn Ferry Tour. A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Norrman played for the Hurricanes from 2017-20, when his senior season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vincent Norrman

Jared Donalson ’22 was named Peach Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year and was the first Hurricane to be named a first team All-American in the NCAA era. He compiled a 1.81 ERA while piling up 121 strikeouts in 99 1/3 innings of work and led GSW baseball to finish third in the conference. The team had the most decorated season in school history and won the most PBC games in the NCAA era.

Jared Donalson

GSW’s softball team completed their 2022 season in the Peach Belt Conference semifinals. The Lady Canes made history this season as the first team to reach 30+ wins in program history, the highest conference regular-season finish and had the first Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year in program history. The Lady Canes fell to Young Harris College in the high-scoring quarterfinals. All but one starter will return for the 2023 season. The team hopes to build on the momentum of their historic 2022 season, which they finished with a 33-21 record.

Softball players cheer on their teammate

Construction and renovation projects were in progress throughout 2022 thanks to financial backing from the GSW Foundation, a significant increase in corporate sponsorships, success of the Canes 360 program and record turnouts for fundraising events. Projects included permanent seating and fencing at the soccer field, new Athletics weight room, a basketball film room, new stadium lighting at the baseball and softball fields, a new recruiting and meeting room (pictured below), the softball locker room renovation, and Hurricane branding in all locations.

New Athletics recruiting and meeting room