Morris starred for ABAC soccer

Published 11:00 am Thursday, March 31, 2022

TIFTON — Nikita Morris, one of the greatest players in the history of the soccer program at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, will be honored as a member of Class of 2020 of the ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame on April 1.

Morris will be one of eight individuals and one team who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at a 6 p.m. dinner in ABAC’s Gressette Gymnasium on April 1.

ABAC Athletics Director Alan Kramer said the 2022 class also includes the 2002 women’s state championship basketball team, tennis player German Dalmagro, three-sport letterman Clayt Hurst, softball player Lee Davis Watson, former tennis player and coach Margaret Treadway, contributor and volunteer assistant softball coach James “Vic” Vickers, contributor and volunteer assistant softball coach Jimmy Spurlin, and Director of Public Relations Emeritus Mike Chason.

Morris made her way from England to Tifton, Ga., in the fall semester of 2012 to play for the Golden Fillies’ soccer team of Coach Jimmy Ballenger. ABAC opened the year with five consecutive victories, helped along greatly by the 18 goals that Morris scored in those games.

After scoring all four goals against Wesleyan, Morris connected on five of seven goals against Oxford Emory. She wound up the year with 34 goals and seven assists to set at that time the single season record. Morris started all 16 games in her freshman season and scored 34 of the 61 goals recorded by the squad that year.

Powered by Morris’s goal-scoring heroics, ABAC made it to the semifinal round of the state playoffs in 2012. The Golden Fillies had high hopes for an even more significant season in 2013 but Morris was injured for much of the year and was only able to contribute four goals for an ABAC team that found the back of the net only 35 times all season.

During her career, Morris was an All-America, All-Conference, and All-Region 17 selection for the National Junior College Athletic Association.

The Athletics Hall of Fame dinner is a part of the 2022 ABAC Homecoming celebration. For more information on Homecoming, interested persons can visit www.abac.edu/homecoming or contact the ABAC alumni office at alumni@abac.edu.