Athlete Spotlight

On a sunny afternoon at an unmarked practice field, the Greenbrier junior varsity boys soccer team competes in a scrimmage game.

The ball stays deep in their opponent's territory most of the time with plenty of goals and opportunities for goals coming the Wolfpack's way.

Suddenly, a forward on the other team comes out of nowhere, dribbles the ball down the left side of the field, beats the Greenbrier JV defenders and fires a shot just wide of the net.

Stephanie Fransoso can't believe she missed it.

"I want to score against them so bad," she said after the girls varsity team finished their scrimmage against the boys JV squad. "They're faster, and it's harder to beat them, but it helps."

The Lady Wolfpack starting forward is one of 11 seniors on the Greenbrier girls squad. According to the numbers, she's the best.

In her 3 years at Greenbrier, Fransoso already holds the school record for career goals. That record was long gone sometime last year.

This season, Fransoso reached a new milestone.

After a five-goal performance in a region victory over Baldwin last Tuesday, Fransoso's career goals tallied 99. Fransoso hit the century mark Friday with a goal in Greenbrier's 2-1 loss to Lovett. She is the first Greenbrier girls soccer player to ever reach a triple-digit scoring record.

"I've always had a goal to beat the record," she said. "I wanted to get it Tuesday against Baldwin, but I'm more of a team player first."

As a team player, Fransoso holds the school record for career assists as well. The result is a team that's undefeated in region play and entered the weekend with an overall record of 7-1-1.

They're also ranked No. 8 in the state.

Greenbrier coach Alex Heider said the team's success has plenty to do with Fransoso's multiple contributions.

"She's blessed with a lot of talent, and she's a hard worker," he said. "All those ingredients: talent, hard work and a great team around her has made her very successful."

Successful enough to play at the next level. On National Signing Day on Feb. 1, Fransoso signed a national letter of intent to play at Auburn University.

Auburn associate head coach/recruiting coordinator Matt Mott said on the team's Web site that the Greenbrier senior is one of the best forwards in Georgia.

Heider said that's definitely the case at Greenbrier High.

"We've had several players go Division I, but Stephanie is probably our largest signing in Greenbrier history," he said.

With all the accomplishments, Fransoso said her senior year is still not complete. She's looking toward one final regular season game against Lakeside in less than a month.

Greenbrier beat the Lady Panthers 2-1 earlier this year, but Fransoso didn't play.

"I missed the last Lakeside game because I was sick," she said. "Those games mean a lot to me. Lakeside is always the biggest game."

The Lady Wolfpack will play host to Lakeside on Greenbrier's senior night at 5:30 p.m. April 20.