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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Gourley goal spree restores soccer glee
10/31/2022 11:45:00 AM | Women's Soccer, Paul Coro
Nation's 3rd-leading goal scorer leads Lopes after 1-year transformation
For any soccer fans who are choosy about how they like goals to come, they would get a kick out of Grand Canyon junior forward Gianna Gourley's gobs of goals.
Gourley ended the regular season in a third-place tie for most goals in the nation by sending the ball into the net 17 times in an array of ways.
The Las Vegas native chipped it over a goalkeeper four times, trying the difficult skill farther away each time. She fooled three goalkeepers into diving the wrong way on penalty kicks.
Gourley drove past five defenders and covered 70 yards to score on opening night and added more goals by bending a shot inside the opposite post and using a pullback to lose a defender. She has scored off one-timers five times, including blasts through the hand or the legs of a keeper.
The defensive marks have increased on Gourley but so have the goals. She scored 11 goals in October, including in six of the past seven games for GCU to enter the WAC Tournament first round Wednesday on a 6-1 tear.
Becoming one of the nation's best scorers also has been one of the nation's best transformations. Gourley transferred from Iowa in the summer of 2021, admittedly out of shape and out of fire.
Lopes coaches and teammates reignited her lifelong passion for the game. Gourley's effort, including 6 a.m. individual sessions during last season, turned the 5-foot-9 forward into GCU's latest scoring dynamo.
"As it started changing, I started playing better and feeling better and more like myself," the Las Vegas native said. "My friends at Iowa were even commenting, 'You look so happy. You look so different. I haven't seen you like this since you first came.' "
The change came last season as Marleen Schimmer, who became a professional first-round pick, commanded opponents' and fans' attention. Meanwhile, Gourley was refining her conditioning and her skills to go on a midseason scoring binge of seven goals in a five-game stretch.
Gourley's season tally of 10 goals helped GCU make the greatest one-year turnaround of any NCAA tournament team, but her encore act has even topped that All-WAC first-team season after losing 25 pounds over a year.
"She's had an unbelievable transformation, from her attitude, her work rate, her passion for our soccer family and she serves as a captain to lead on and off the field," GCU head coach Chris Cissell said. "She and her family have said that she's a whole new person. She seems like she's got everything going for her in all aspects of her life."
In a sports family, Gourley always was drawn to soccer over every other option that came to her. Her mother, Sharon, played softball and her father, Thomas, played football, basketball and baseball while encouraging golf.
Gourley kept picking soccer and eventually became Nevada's Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior at athletic powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School.
Gourley has played in two consecutive NCAA tournaments for GCU and Iowa, but is fully a Lope after 40 appearances. She will make her 30th career start when the Lopes go for the first of the three WAC Tournament wins needed to return to the NCAA tournament this season.
"When I came to GCU, it felt better," said Gourley, a Business Management major. "The coaches supported the player I wanted to be and the player I was already. I felt like I had a lot of freedom to be a tricky player and try new things without being taken off the field. That spoke to me and helped me get out of the funk it was in."
Already the single-season record holder for goals, Gourley needs one more goal to set the Lopes career mark. It will be challenging, considering how teams mark her, double-team her and pack the 18-yard box.
"It's a compliment to hear your jersey number and name throughout the game, but sometimes it can be a little frustrating," Gourley said. "It's nice because it leaves things open for other people. It's a bad move because we've got people like Leah Pirro, Rebekah Valdez or Brenna Alderson."
Gourley uses that attention against opponents, like when she moved out of center of the box at Utah Tech to assist ant open a lane for junior wing forward Lindsey Prokop's game-winning goal.
Prokop has returned the favor, assisting on four of Gourley's goals while Valdez and freshman midfielder AJ Loera each have done so three times. The team success has fulfilled Gourley most, as she has watched newcomer after newcomer buy into the system to evolve the season into its current hot streak.
The Lopes have outscored opponents 23-5 over the past seven games.
"She's got a great personality," Cissell said. "She's fun to work with. She's always asking questions, coming up to the office wanting to learn and study runs. She's interested in learning from a tactical standpoint, but she's a big part of us constantly working on our family culture."
 And she has another year of eligibility remaining. But first, the fifth-seeded Lopes have the same expectation as last season's top-seeded Lopes to win the WAC Tournament.
"They always say, 'It's not how you start; it's how you finish," Gourley said. "That's how championship teams are and I still think we are a championship team."
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Gourley ended the regular season in a third-place tie for most goals in the nation by sending the ball into the net 17 times in an array of ways.
The Las Vegas native chipped it over a goalkeeper four times, trying the difficult skill farther away each time. She fooled three goalkeepers into diving the wrong way on penalty kicks.Gourley drove past five defenders and covered 70 yards to score on opening night and added more goals by bending a shot inside the opposite post and using a pullback to lose a defender. She has scored off one-timers five times, including blasts through the hand or the legs of a keeper.
The defensive marks have increased on Gourley but so have the goals. She scored 11 goals in October, including in six of the past seven games for GCU to enter the WAC Tournament first round Wednesday on a 6-1 tear.
Becoming one of the nation's best scorers also has been one of the nation's best transformations. Gourley transferred from Iowa in the summer of 2021, admittedly out of shape and out of fire.
Lopes coaches and teammates reignited her lifelong passion for the game. Gourley's effort, including 6 a.m. individual sessions during last season, turned the 5-foot-9 forward into GCU's latest scoring dynamo.
"As it started changing, I started playing better and feeling better and more like myself," the Las Vegas native said. "My friends at Iowa were even commenting, 'You look so happy. You look so different. I haven't seen you like this since you first came.' "
The change came last season as Marleen Schimmer, who became a professional first-round pick, commanded opponents' and fans' attention. Meanwhile, Gourley was refining her conditioning and her skills to go on a midseason scoring binge of seven goals in a five-game stretch.
Gourley's season tally of 10 goals helped GCU make the greatest one-year turnaround of any NCAA tournament team, but her encore act has even topped that All-WAC first-team season after losing 25 pounds over a year."She's had an unbelievable transformation, from her attitude, her work rate, her passion for our soccer family and she serves as a captain to lead on and off the field," GCU head coach Chris Cissell said. "She and her family have said that she's a whole new person. She seems like she's got everything going for her in all aspects of her life."
In a sports family, Gourley always was drawn to soccer over every other option that came to her. Her mother, Sharon, played softball and her father, Thomas, played football, basketball and baseball while encouraging golf.
Gourley kept picking soccer and eventually became Nevada's Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior at athletic powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School.
Gourley has played in two consecutive NCAA tournaments for GCU and Iowa, but is fully a Lope after 40 appearances. She will make her 30th career start when the Lopes go for the first of the three WAC Tournament wins needed to return to the NCAA tournament this season.
"When I came to GCU, it felt better," said Gourley, a Business Management major. "The coaches supported the player I wanted to be and the player I was already. I felt like I had a lot of freedom to be a tricky player and try new things without being taken off the field. That spoke to me and helped me get out of the funk it was in."Already the single-season record holder for goals, Gourley needs one more goal to set the Lopes career mark. It will be challenging, considering how teams mark her, double-team her and pack the 18-yard box.
"It's a compliment to hear your jersey number and name throughout the game, but sometimes it can be a little frustrating," Gourley said. "It's nice because it leaves things open for other people. It's a bad move because we've got people like Leah Pirro, Rebekah Valdez or Brenna Alderson."
Gourley uses that attention against opponents, like when she moved out of center of the box at Utah Tech to assist ant open a lane for junior wing forward Lindsey Prokop's game-winning goal.
Prokop has returned the favor, assisting on four of Gourley's goals while Valdez and freshman midfielder AJ Loera each have done so three times. The team success has fulfilled Gourley most, as she has watched newcomer after newcomer buy into the system to evolve the season into its current hot streak.
The Lopes have outscored opponents 23-5 over the past seven games.
"She's got a great personality," Cissell said. "She's fun to work with. She's always asking questions, coming up to the office wanting to learn and study runs. She's interested in learning from a tactical standpoint, but she's a big part of us constantly working on our family culture."
 And she has another year of eligibility remaining. But first, the fifth-seeded Lopes have the same expectation as last season's top-seeded Lopes to win the WAC Tournament.
"They always say, 'It's not how you start; it's how you finish," Gourley said. "That's how championship teams are and I still think we are a championship team."
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Players Mentioned
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