University of Lynchburg

Caitlin Mertens rejoined her alma mater's women's soccer program as a graduate assistant in the summer of 2020.

One of the most prolific scorers in program history, Mertens won D3soccer.com's national forward of the year and Old Dominion Athletic Conference player of the year honors in her senior season after helping the Hornets to the NCAA Division III tournament quarterfinals. She scored 29 goals that season, second-most in Lynchburg's storied program history, and was a second-team All-American and first-team All-South Atlantic Region honoree.

The Succasunna, N.J. native earned three All-ODAC and All-State accolades in her career and was named to the ODAC All-Tournament Team twice. Her 63 career goals rank fourth on Lynchburg's all-time leaderboard, and her 147 points rank fifth.

She spent the 2019-20 year in Richmond working as an intern for Fit4Kids, a nonprofit that works on nutrition and physical fitness skills with at-risk youth, and as a medical scribe with OrthoVirginia.

Mertens graduated from Lynchburg in 2019 with a degree in health promotion and is currently pursuing her master's degree in public health.