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Of all the sports she could have pursued, Savannah’s Elise Holcey chose soccer, which is played on grass fields.

 

Holcey has a grass allergy. For many years, she covered her limbs to protect herself from contact with grass and the resulting reactions. But for the last few years, she has shed the extra layer when playing for Campbell University and summers for Statesboro-based South Georgia Tormenta FC in the USL W League.

 

“Unfortunately, if I go down (on the grass), I’m just going to have a little hot burn for a minute,” Holcey, 20, said Thursday. “Honestly, I’m not sure what kind of grass it is, but some, like the grass at Campbell, it won’t give me hives but it definitely itches. Some grass, if go down, I might get a couple of hives.”

 

The forward does recognize the irony, or perhaps just bad luck, of the potential discomfort associated with her chosen sport, which she has played at elite levels since coming up through the Tormenta FC Academy and Savannah Arts Academy.

 

Holcey was the first player signed by Tormenta as a 17-year-old high school senior in November 2021. The squad captured the inaugural title in 2022 in the national pre-professional women’s league – meaning she was able to keep her college eligibility.

 

Now in her fourth season as the co-longest tenured player (with Jhenesis Ellerbe, 24), Holcey recalled that at 17, she viewed teammates as much older and much more mature. The current club has maturity throughout the range of ages, she said.

“This year, everyone had an understanding with each other, and even though we all just met a month ago, it was really nice to see how easy it was for us to come together,” Holcey said.

 

Not that Holcey views herself as ancient compared to younger teammates.

 

“I would say I’m very young-spirited,” she said. “I tend to stay happy and, some would say, childish. But I think I’m just a fun person.”

 

Tormenta, who she said enters each summer “knowing what we’re capable of” after that 2022 championship, has put together a winning season at 6-4-1 (19 points) with 25 goals for and 14 against.

 

However, the team is in third place in the seven-team South Atlantic Division. It cannot qualify for the playoffs with only one regular-season game remaining on Sunday night at Carolina Ascent FC near Charlotte, N.C.

 

“It is really hard,” Holcey said of making the USL W League playoffs. “Each team changes every time, and we’ve got new teams coming up, too. It’s more competitive.”

 

She said that while it’s been a good season, the squad could have done more – and noted that’s a common thought when seasons come to a close. For Holcey, just playing games this summer is an accomplishment.

 

Recovering from injury

Holcey missed her entire junior season last fall at Campbell after a serious ankle injury at a team practice in February 2024. It was a common play as she blocked the ball with the outside of her right foot and suffered a grade-3 sprain.

 

“I tried to let that heal on its own, but I ended up tearing two ligaments and I had two bone bruises,” Holcey recalled. “I was able to let the ligaments heal on their own without surgery, but because of the trauma that happened when my ankle basically smacked itself on the inside, it tried to heal itself by forming new bone. So I had to get that bone removed, so I got surgery. Then I had to recover from that all over again.”

 

She said doctors told her the ankle would have healed faster if it was broken, not sprained. Holcey had to wait eight weeks for the swelling to go down so she could get MRI tests. 

 

“That’s my first ankle injury, too,” she said. “I’ve never had an ankle sprain, rolled it, nothing.”

 

Holcey returned to the field for some off-season college games in April and worked her way back with Tormenta by coming in as a reserve forward for five games. She’s trying to be patient and “not be too hard on myself” when she has opportunities to play.

 

“I think I’m there now,” Holcey responded when asked if the ankle is 100 percent healthy. “I’ll never be fully 100, I guess, but I’m definitely like (medically) cleared. I can play now. I don’t have that same pain that I did before.”

 

She was feeling very good when she scored her first goal of the season in the 79th minute of the home finale, an 8-0 rout of Wake FC on June 21 at Tormenta Stadium.

“My teammate, Lina (Jaime), just crossed the ball from outside of the box,” Holcey recalled. “It caught some pretty good air, so I’m thinking it might just go in the goal itself. I was there just in case, and it was good that I was there because it happened to come to me and it was just a little tap-in and I was in the right spot at the right time.”

 

She used her right foot to put the ball in the net. By the way, Holcey said one effect of compensating for the injury was strengthening her ability with her left foot.

 

“I wouldn’t say it’s stronger than my right (side), but I feel pretty equivalent now,” she said. “It was definitely right was 60 (percent), left was 40. Now I can it’s probably 50-50. Everything happens for a reason.”

 

Taking on challenges

Holcey puts herself in a position to succeed through adversity. She started playing soccer at the relatively late age of 9 and, after her family moved to Savannah when she was 11, quickly took on stronger competition by entering Tormenta FC Academy and joining club teams. 

 

She raised her game in the W League and continues to target a career in professional soccer, such as the USL Super League or playing abroad – noting, “abroad is always a scary thought but also exciting.”

 

But that’s not her only focus. She’s a kinesiology major on a pre-med track at Campbell in Buies Creek, N.C.

 

“They have a really good science program, and they also have a medical school that they’re branched with,” Holcey said. “I’m kind of set in terms of academics. I like the campus. I like how it’s not too big because I feel I would get kind of overwhelmed in that kind of setting. I’m able to stay on top of my grades and everything.

 

“When I need help, I can find it easily,” she continued. “My professors are also really in tune with all the students there, especially student-athletes, so it’s really nice. They offer help and support.”

 

Holcey wants to be a psychiatrist. Her mother, Michelle, was a nurse assistant in a psychiatric ward, Holcey said. Her father, Sean, has been a high school teacher.

 

“In case I do change my mind about psychiatry, I can do physical therapy or any of those human sciences rather than the plant (sciences),” said Holcey, a former biology major. “I also kept it broad because with going into medical school, I’ll be shown so many new things. My mind’s bound to change. Or it might not, so I’m keeping everything open for me.”

 

So much is ahead for Holcey, who heads back to Campbell in mid-July for another season with the Fighting Camels. Her sister, Ava, a 2025 graduate of St. Vincent’s Academy, where she was a soccer standout, will be playing only about an hour away at Barton College in Wilson, N.C.

 

“It might be a little too close,” the older sister joked.

 

Elise said that Ava choosing a college near her sister wasn’t so much intentional as “that’s just how it worked out.” Certainly, road trips for their parents will be easier.

 

“It might be hard for (the sisters to see each other’s games), but it is nice that she is close,” Elise said.

 

PHOTO CREDIT: Courtsey of the South Georgia Tormenta FC team in the USL W League

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