Bustamante Closes Out Collegiate Soccer on a Strong Note
Lucia Bustamante wrapped up her collegiate soccer career with some very good offensive numbers.
The senior midfielder finished with career highs in goals (five), points (10) and shots (20), and matched her career best with one game-winning goal and 13 shots on goal for NCAA Division II Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW). Bustamante, who set her career high with 13 shots on goal as a freshman in 2022, led the team in goals, shared first in points, tied for second in shots and was third in shots this past season. She had one game-winning tally in all four of her seasons at GSW.
Bustamante played in 61 career games for the Lady Hurricanes, including 39 starts, and collected 12 goals, five assists, 29 points, four game-winning tallies, 58 shots, 35 shots on goal and 3,351 minutes played.
On Sept. 10, 2025, the 2022 graduate of Fellowship Christian School set single-game career bests with four goals and eight points at Abraham Baldwin.
Following a controversial call, GSW tied its final regular-season game, but needed a win to reach the playoffs.
“It was good,” Bustamante said about her fourth and final college soccer season. “I’d hoped we would have gone farther. We did not make it to the conference tournament. It was a good four years here. It was so fast. I can’t believe it’s over.”
During her career, Bustamante played under two head coaches, including Jacob Crawford in 2024 and 2025.
“I would say the seasons were all quite different,” she said. “I played two seasons under one coach, and two more under our new coach. But it was memorable because we beat teams like UNG and Flager that we were not supposed to beat. They are both great soccer programs. It was awesome to know I played four years of college soccer. It wasn’t always easy, but God gave me this opportunity. It was a gift to be able to do that.”
Bustamante graduated from GSW with a degree in phycology and works as a certified behavioral technician for a counseling company in Americus, Ga., but plans a move back to Atlanta in June.
The former Lady Paladin stays in contact with many of her former FCS soccer teammates, including Houston Dash player Cate Hardin.
“She’s been doing so well,” Bustamante said. “I am proud of her. I keep up with Cate and many of my friends from the team. I loved Fellowship. Coach [Andy] Trevers and coach Ron [Apollon] believed in us whatever the score. They would say ‘we are going to be OK’ and I loved that. My dad and I still reminisce about the Athens Academy game we trailed 3-0 at halftime and wound up winning 6-3.”
The midfielder helped the Lady Hurricanes post a 21-33-11 overall record and an 8-22-8 mark in Peach Belt Conference games. GSW’s year-by-year record breakdown in that span was 4-8-3 (1-6-3) in 2025, 7-8-1 (4-4-1) in 2024, 6-9-3 (2-5-2) in 2023 and 4-8-4 (1-7-2) in 2022.
As a freshman, Bustamante set career highs with 13 shots on goal. She played in a career-high 17 games and made a career-best 15 starts her sophomore season. In 16 games as a junior, she registered a career-high three assists.
She was named to the Peach Belt Conference All Academic Team in 2025-26.
(Photos courtesy of GSW athletics website)