COMMERCE, Ga. — Ivy Tolbert already has made plenty of history on the soccer pitch in Georgia.
The Commerce senior has tallied 254 goals for the Lady Tigers soccer team, including a whopping 104 in her sophomore season alone as they advanced to the Class A Public championship match in 2022. She is a solid commit to Cornell and is expected to play for the Big Red women’s program once she hits campus.
Now, Tolbert has made history on the football field for the Tigers. With 8 points in a 38-21 win over Banks County, including a career-best 32-yard field goal, Tolbert became the first girl to score 100 points in a career in football in the state. At least no records can be found that say otherwise.
She currently sits at 102 career points after a pair of extra points last week in a 28-14 win over First Presbyterian. She was a perfect 19-of-19 until a rare miss early in the game. She is now 21-of-22 on PATs to go with three field goals on the season.
But it almost didn’t come to be. New Commerce coach at the time Mark Hollars, desperate for a kicker, reached out to the soccer coach, Scott Tolbert, Ivy’s dad, wondering if she would be interested.
“Coach Hollars called my dad and said they had tried everybody and they needed a kicker,” remembered Ivy, who is just 5-foot-6 and 125 pounds. “I was a little nervous at first because our team plays so physical and I didn’t know if I would be able to handle that.”
The first practice left her bruised as well.
“The transition to a football from a soccer ball was tough at first. I was kicking the ball in the wrong spot and on the wrong part of my foot and it got bruised up really bad. I made the kicks but it was pretty painful that first day,” she said. “That was on a Monday, but by Friday I had figured it out and was ready.”
Now, she is one of the more dependable kickers in the area and Hollars said he is not afraid to call on her anytime she is needed. She already has two game-winning field goals in her career.
“She is so consistent. We are very comfortable with her any time inside the 40,” Hollars said. “She’s hit plenty from beyond 40 in practice but we haven’t really needed one that far in a game yet. But if the game were on the line and we needed one (from beyond 40), I’d have no problem calling on her.”
Tolbert also admits that she had little to no expectations when she joined the team. Now, she wants another record.
“I really didn’t know what to expect, to be honest,” she said. “But it’s been even more exciting because I didn’t have a lot of expectations. I love playing soccer and I’ve had some great moments. But kicking that (game-winning) field goal to beat Banks County last year was probably the most exciting thing I’ve been a part of.
“You get like that one big rush in that one specific moment. It was truly amazing. Now, I want the school-record for a field goal. It’s 44-yards. I’ve hit many from beyond that in practice. That’s the next goal.”
According to MaxPreps, Heidi Garrett, playing for King out of Riverside, Calif., holds the female record for the longest field goal with her 48-yarder in a 24-14 win over Paloma Valley (Menifee, Calif.) in 2004.
For father Tolbert, he has gotten past that first moment of seeing his small-stature daughter out on the gridiron with guys twice her size. She doesn’t handle kickoff duties and so far she has not had to handle the ball because of a bad snap during field goals or extra points.
“I think I was a little nervous at first but not any more,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun to see her out there on the football field having success there as well. If (a bad snap) ever happened I guess would probably just yell at her to protect her legs.”
Probably a smart idea, considering she will most certainly make her living in the future on the soccer pitch. But father Tolbert said she mentioned possibly, maybe, getting to know the Cornell football coach?
“I kind of said that jokingly to him but I don’t have any plans to kick (in football) once I get to college,” she said. “It’s cool to know I’m the first girl in Georgia to hit 100 points (in football) so it means something to me from that perspective. Hopefully other girls in the future will see that it can be done and give it a try.
“I’m definitely glad I did this. Now, I just want to see if we can get to finals. That would be fun.”
