Women's Soccer | 5/20/2026 11:24:00 AM

May 20, 2026-Emporia State picked up their eighth team national championship in the last six years of national community service. As a department the Hornets finished 32nd in the nation in the final NCAA Helper Helper Report of 2025-26 with nine programs earning top ten status in community service.  Emporia State recorded over 7,100 total hours of service to the Emporia and surrounding communities.
 
The NCAA Helper Helper Service Challenge is a national community service competition for NCAA DI, DII and DIII athletic departments and student-athletes. Schools are ranked from a combination of total hours per student-athlete and participation rate of teams. It recognizes schools for their outstanding commitment to volunteerism and community service. Participation in the competition using the Helper Helper platform was open to all NCAA-affiliated schools.
 
A total of 328 Hornet student-athletes participated in nearly 30 different community engagement activities for a total of 7,074 validated hours during the school year. The activities included High Five Friday's at local elementary schools, downtown clean up with Emporia Main Street, Blood Cancer Awareness, Special Olympics Polar Plunge, and Special Athletics Track & Field Day among others.
 
Emporia State ranked #1 in the nation among women's soccer teams in the Helper Helper national team rankings while softball and disc golf were second, football finished third and women's basketball came in fourth nationally. 

This is the second consecutive community service national championship for Emporia State soccer.
 
"It's amazing accomplishment for our program, but I'm even more proud of our team for earning it back-to-back," said Emporia State soccer coach Jane Grimly-Gunn. "This group continues to raise the bar and ensure they are serving others, and that commitment has become a huge part of who we are. We believe those experiences build a culture that translates onto the field and carries with our players long after soccer and into life."

The Hornet softball team ranked seventh among all Division II women's sports. Emporia State has been ranked in the top five of all Division II women's sports teams three times.
  
Individually Taelen Laird, a receiver for the Hornet football team, was recognized as one of the top three male individuals in NCAA Division II.
 
Ten of Emporia State's 14 programs averaged at least ten hours of community service per team member during the 2025-26 school year.
 
As a department Emporia State had a 73% participation rate among their over 447 student-athletes with the baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, softball, soccer and volleyball teams all at 100% participation from their team members.

Nearly 58,000 student-athletes participated in the competition across all three NCAA Divisions, providing 637,205 hours of service to their respective communities.

Individual Sports in the Top Ten
Women's Soccer
1. EMPORIA STATE
2. Georgian Court
3. Catawba
4. Belmont Abbey
5. Colorado Christian
6. Florida Southern
7. Kentucky Wesleyan
8. Georgia Southwestern State
9. Minnesota-Duluth
10. Regis

Softball
1. Georgia Southwestern
2. EMPORIA STATE  
3. Delta State
4. MSU-Denver
5. Coker
6. Southern Arkansas
7. Columbus State
8. Arkansas Tech
9. Augusta
10. Indianapolis
 
WILD CARD
1. Winona State Gymnastics
2. EMPORIA STATE  DISC GOLF
3. Menlo Women's Wrestling
4. Southern Nazarene Men's Equestrian
5. Belmont Abbey Bowling
6. Wayne State (Mich.) Women's Fencing
7. TAMU-Kingsville Beach Volleyball
8. Coker Women's Acrobatics and Tumbling
9. Texas Woman's Wrestling
10. Indianapolis Triathlon
 
Football
1. Southern Arkansas
2. South Dakota School of Mines
3. EMPORIA STATE
4. TAMU-Kingsville
5. Kentucky Wesleyan
6. Fort Lewis
7. Indianapolis
8. Arkansas Tech
9. Minnesota-Duluth
10. Catawba
 
Women's Basketball
1. Georgian Court
2. Southern Arkansas
3. Winona State
4. EMPORIA STATE
5. Coker
6. Minnesota-Duluth
7. Midwestern State
8. Newberry
9. Arkansas Tech
10. Delta State
 
Men's Tennis
1. Wayne State (Mich.)
2. Coker
3. North Greenville
4. Florida Southern
5. EMPORIA STATE
6. Augusta
7. Southern Arkansas
8. Belmont Abbey
9. Young Harris
10. Newberry
 
Women's Tennis
1. Georgia Southwestern
2. Coker
3. Minnesota-Duluth
4. TAMU-Kingsville
5. North Greenville
6. Florida Southern
7. Kentucky Wesleyan
8. EMPORIA STATE
9. Indianapolis
10. Belmont Abbey
 
Baseball
1. Southern Arkansas
2. Regis
3. Coker
4. Georgia Southwestern State
5. Missouri Western
6. Georgian Court
7. Winona State
8. TAMU-Kingsville
9. EMPORIA STATE
10. Southern Nazarene 

Men's Basketball
1. Southern Arkansas
2. Newberry
3. Colorado Christian
4. Augusta
5. Arkansas Tech
6. MSU-Denver
7. Menlo
8. Columbus State
9. Truman State
10. EMPORIA STATE


Top Ten Women's Teams (All Sports)
1. Coker Lacrosse
2. Goergian Court Basketball
3 Southern Arkansas Basketball
4 Goergia Southwestern State Softball
5 Southern Arkansas Volleyball
6 Winona State Volleyball
7. EMPORIA STATE SOFTBALL
8. Georgia Southwestern Tennis
9. Delta Staet Softball
10. MSU-Denver Softball

NCAA Division II Community Service
Top 40 Overall
1. Southern Arkansas
2. Coker
3. Florida Southern
4. Texas A&M-Kingsville
5. Menlo College
6. Regis
7. Georgia Southwestern State
8. Georgian Court
9. Belmont Abbey
10. Flagler
11. Colorado Christian
12. Indianapolis
13. Adelphi
14. Walsh
15. UC-Colorado Springs
16. Newberry College
17. Kentucky Wesleyan
18. North Greenville
19. Winona State
20. Delta State
21. Missouri Western
22. Gannon
23. Young Harris
24. Augusta
25. Catawba
26. Davis & Elkins
27. Alaska-Fairbanks
28. Texas Woman's
29. Roberts Wesleyan
30. Minnesota Duluth
31. Columbus State
32. EMPORIA STATE
33. Auburn-Montgomery
34. MSU-Denver
35. Wayne State (Mich.)
36. Mo.-St. Louis
37. Concord
38. South Dakota School of Mines
39. Arkansas Tech
40. Truman State
  
Emporia State Athletics Overall Year by Year

Year	Overall	Team Champions
2025-26	32nd	Women's Soccer
2024-25	15th	Softball, Women's Soccer, Football
2023-24	25th
2022-23	11th	Baseball, Men's Basketball
2021-22	6th	Men's Basketball
2020-21	4th	Football
2019-20	9th
2018-19	7th
2017-18	15th
2016-17	16th