Dependable.

Composed.

In college athletics, such lofty terms are usually reserved for grizzled veterans, four-year starters, players who have fought hard year-in and year-out, down to the final whistle.

But a freshman soccer player? A freshman playing out of her natural position? A freshman playing, and starting, at arguably the most important, pressure-packed position on the field?

There must be some kind of confusion.

Not so. Meet Laura Eddy.

Eddy, the youngest of six siblings along with her twin brother, has the pedigree for soccer stardom. Her father, Mike, was a swimmer at the University of North Carolina and two of her siblings, older brother Bryan and older sister Becca, went on to play college soccer at Wofford and College of Charleston, respectively.

“In everything we did, it was a competition. Playing with my brothers, if we’d just go out and kick the [soccer] ball around, it’d be aggressive and we’d get mad, but I think it helped put me ahead of some people in that way,” said Eddy.

On Sunday, Eddy got her first taste of soccer glory at the college level, scoring her first career goal, a game winner in the final minutes of play to lift the Bulldogs above Mississippi State.

Prior to arriving at the University, however, the Atlanta native and 2008 graduate of the Marist School was no stranger to success on the soccer field.

Eddy, a four-year starter at Marist playing center midfield, raked in more than her fair share of hardware in high school: two AAAA State championships in 2008 and 2009, a 2008 selection to the NSCAA High School All-American Team and, in 2009, Eddy was named the Georgia State Player of the Year.

However, all of those accolades were earned because of Eddy’s play in the central midfield. Though she was recruited to help shore up the Georgia midfield, through 14 games this season, Eddy has started all but one at sweeper, the central defender playing just in front of the goalkeeper.

It’s not every day that a freshman earns a starting spot. For a freshman to start at sweeper and excel at the position is virtually unheard of. In his five seasons at Georgia, it’s something that Georgia head coach Patrick Baker has never seen before.

Though Eddy says the pressure of playing sweeper and being that last line of defense is certainly there, on the field her strategy is simple: stay calm.

“You don’t realize how nerve-racking it is to be that last line of defense until you’re back there and you’re like, ‘I can’t lose this tackle or, alright, I can’t get beat by this player,’” said Eddy. “I guess that’s one of the things I try to do is just stay calm, stay composed, keep the ball and get rid of it if I need to.”

According to Baker, it’s her versatility and finely tuned technical skills that have allowed her to come in and have so much success playing out of her natural position.

“You can pretty much put her anywhere and she’s going to be able to play, and at the same time, she’s going to make the players around her better,” said Baker. “Her technical ability is also part of it. I mean, every ball that comes in she cleans up right away, knows what decision to make and that’s just a big part of what we want to do as a possession oriented team.”

Fellow defender, senior Leslie McConnell, knows first hand just how difficult it is to come in as a freshman and be thrown straight into the fire.

As a freshman, McConnell played in 18 games, starting 12 of those. Even McConnell has been impressed by Eddy’s seamless transition, and that’s something that gives her and the entire team confidence.

“She’s definitely a solid defender and I think that coming in as a freshman, it’s kind of intimidating to step into that [sweeper] role, but she’s embraced it and done well with it,” said McConnell. “I know that when I play outside back, I want to have Laura Eddy there.”