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Jun. 27—MAHOMET — Paislee Welge can admit this now.
Even laugh about it, too.
The Mahomet-Seymour senior standout grew up fulfilling one particular role in the sport she's played since she was 5 years old: scoring goals.
She did so playing youth soccer in Troy, a St. Louis suburb on the Illinois side where her family moved when she was 4 years old after Welge was born in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Did so after the family moved to Mahomet in 2018. A move Welge was not initially a fan of.
"I did not want to move," Welge said. "I had a really good group of friends, and we had a really good system down near St. Louis. Moving was not my first choice, but looking back on it, I would not have had the friends or the opportunities that I have without moving to Mahomet."
She kept scoring goals during her freshman season with Mahomet-Seymour. A 2023 season that saw her produce 21 goals and five assists en route to the first of four All-Area First-Team selections by The News-Gazette while helping the Bulldogs win a Class 2A regional championship.
But then she stopped scoring goals. For almost two seasons. Because the Bulldogs moved her out of her familiar position at forward to a center back defender.
"I had never played center back in my life," Welge said. "Having to learn a new position was very difficult. It was definitely a struggle because I cried almost every practice my sophomore year because I was frustrated. It wasn't what I wanted, but at the same time, it was what the team needed."
The latter part of that statement is what stands out to M-S coach Jeremy Davis. And any of Welge's teammates, either with the Bulldogs or with her club team, Central Illinois United based out of Bloomington.
"She just wants to win," M-S senior forward Ella Walk said.
Which is what Welge does. The Bulldogs compiled a 17-5-2 record this past season, and Welge won The News-Gazette All-Area Player of the Year honor for the first time in her decorated high school career. A career that saw M-S finish with a 54-23-10 record and win three Class 2A regional titles during her four seasons.
"She's always been really good," said Rylie Schulze, a Champaign Central junior forward, Eastern Michigan commit and The News-Gazette's 2025 All-Area Player of the Year who has been club teammates with her ever since Welge moved to the area.
Beyond her accomplishments and talent on soccer field, though, is what M-S sophomore goalie Lainey Jacobs cherishes the most from Welge.
"She's always encouraging us to do better," Jacobs said. "She's just such an uplifting, fun person to be around."
Staying loose
Let's focus in on the fun part for a minute. Uni High senior defender and midfielder Cali Cooper, like Schulze, has gotten to know Welge through club soccer.
"She has a lot of weird sayings and has a weird country accent sometimes," Cooper said with a laugh. "She does really good impressions, too. She's always been like that."
"She's really funny," Schulze said. "She cares a lot about other people. She's very outgoing. She'll text you and ask how you are or if you want to hang out. She's always happy."
Well, pause that thought for a second. Happy unless the team she's playing on is losing and not doing something to try to change the outcome.
"Then I get in a bad mood," Welge said.
Jacobs has relied on Welge the last two seasons. For her defensive prowess playing in front of Jacobs during the 2025 season and then for her goal-scoring capabilities during the 2026 season. And for the fact the two have bonded the last two seasons at practice from ... TikTok dances.
"I do like to dance. I make TikTok's. I'm a TikTok person," Welge said. "I feel like I'm always dancing. Or singing. One or the other."
Jacobs can attest to that.
"Whenever we're at practice and listening to music that has a TikTok dance to it," Jacobs said with a laugh, "we'll both look at each other across the field and start dancing.
"I'm going to miss Paislee so much. She is one of my best friends, and it's going to be so much harder not having her light around because she can change everyone's mood and make it better. I'm going to miss everything about her."
Finding ways to improve
The M-S girls' soccer program will miss the positive vibes Welge brings. Along with her dynamic play on the field. She matched her freshman season goal output this past season when she tallied 21 goals and seven assists, helping the Bulldogs advance to a 2A regional championship match. But Central got the better of M-S in the postseason, topping Welge and the Bulldogs 3-1 on May 23 during the regional title match in Champaign.
"Whenever we played Mahomet, we knew who we need to mark, and it was always Paislee," Central senior midfielder Chloe Sikora said. "It doesn't matter if she's on offense or defense."
Welge recorded double-digit goals again even after spending a few weeks playing defense before Davis moved her back up to her natural position.
"Goal scorers have so much more pressure on them," Davis said. "It is kind of like a keeper. When you get chances in the box, and Paislee is able to create so many, you have to have a mindset of you are going to miss some shots, but you are going to keep taking them and keep finishing them."
Welge scored two goals and handed out three assists for the Bulldogs as a sophomore in 2024, her first season playing center back, and then she delivered three goals to go along with five assists as a junior in 2025. Again, playing defense.
"I remember when she came in as a freshman, even when we were in our fieldhouse having open practices before the season started, her demeanor was that she just wanted to win," Davis said. "Even during our preseason meeting before her sophomore season where I was talking to her and said, 'I'm looking at switching your position as we get into the season, but then hearing her say, I just want to win,' is every coach's dream. Seeing how much she has grown as a leader, that's what I just love. That fuels me as a coach is getting to see kids grow over four year. She cares so much about her team and her teammates. To her, it was always about, 'How do I make the people around me better?'"
The next step
Welge is the latest M-S product to win The News-Gazette All-Area Player of the Year honor. Kelsie Donley was the first in 2009, followed by a steady mix in the past decade-plus: Sarah Van Windergen in 2014, Meredith Johnson-Monfort in 2017 and 2018, Maddy Wade in 2019, Nyah Biegler in 2021 and Cayla Koerner in 2022.
The common denominator among the six previous Bulldogs to win this honor? They all played college soccer. Donley and Wade did so at Parkland, Van Windergen at Wheaton, Johnson-Monfort at Illinois, Biegler at Eastern Illinois and Koerner at Southeast Missouri State.
Welge will continue the trend, having committed to Central Michigan in February 2025 before her junior season and signing with the Chippewas this past November. She'll actually get the chance to start her college career back near where she flourished in high school.
Central Michigan is set to play at Illinois on Aug. 5 in an exhibition match at Demirjian Park in Champaign before the Chippewas start the regular season on Aug. 12 at Loyola Chicago.
"You're kind of back at square one, but on a completely different level," Welge said. "Now, it's about getting ready for the season and being a freshman again on a team who's all connected."
A lasting legacy
Going through the recruiting process wasn't the favorite part of Welge's soccer career.
"The recruitment process is something I would never put on someone," she said with a laugh. "I would never want to do it again. I didn't want to reach out to coaches or do any of it."
Welge got on Central Michigan's radar during a showcase tournament in California in December 2024.
"They reached out to me after that, and from there on out, it was just emails back and forth to get a visit set up," Welge said.
She visited the campus in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., in January 2025. Cold temperatures and snow on the ground.
"I wanted to go south for college, but after I visited Central Michigan, I loved it there," Welge said. "Loved the campus. Loved the facilities. All of it."
Welge plans to major in business entrepreneurship and minor in finance, with the goal of owning her own business someday.
She'll adapt, however, if she has to. That aspect has come to define Welge on the soccer field almost as much as her speed, her skills and her powerful shot.
"I'm going to Central Michigan to play forward," Welge said. "That's where I'm supposed to play, but obviously, anything can change."
If it does, Welge can just reflect back on her time in Mahomet. About how an upstart freshman known for scoring goals shifted her focus and priority. All in an effort to help the team. In the process, Welge became the next great girls' soccer player to hail from Mahomet.
"We've had a great stretch of girls come through our program," Davis said. "You have to embrace that. Paislee did, and I'm sure, somewhere in Mahomet, there is that kid right now that wants to be the next Paislee Welge."
YEAR PLAYER SCHOOL
2026 Paislee Welge Mahomet-Seymour
2025 Rylie Schulze Champaign Central
2024 Payton Kaiser Centennial
2023 Celia Barkley Urbana
2022 Cayla Koerner Mahomet-Seymour
2021 Nyah Biegler Mahomet-Seymour
2019 Maddy Wade Mahomet-Seymour
YEAR PLAYER SCHOOL
2018 Meredith Johnson-Monfort Mahomet-Seymour
2017 Meredith Johnson-Monfort Mahomet-Seymour
2016 Willa Olson Centennial
2015 Maddy Chalifoux Champaign Central
2014 Sarah Van Wingerden Mahomet-Seymour
2013 Dagny Olson Centennial
2012 Katelynn Martinez Centennial
YEAR PLAYER SCHOOL
2011 Chantal Meacham Centennial
2010 Dagny Olson Centennial
2009 Kelsie Donley Mahomet-Seymour
2008 Amanda Greco Champaign Central
2007 Liz Clegg Champaign Central
2006 Enca Houk Urbana
2005 Ashley Bolen Urbana
YEAR PLAYER SCHOOL
2004 Ella Masar Urbana
2003 Megan Bushue Centennial
2002 Tricia Johnson Centennial
2001 Brittany Ward Centennial
2000 Erica Peters Champaign Central
1999 Katie Stephens Urbana
1998 Katie Stephens Urbana
Continue reading...
Even laugh about it, too.
The Mahomet-Seymour senior standout grew up fulfilling one particular role in the sport she's played since she was 5 years old: scoring goals.
She did so playing youth soccer in Troy, a St. Louis suburb on the Illinois side where her family moved when she was 4 years old after Welge was born in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Did so after the family moved to Mahomet in 2018. A move Welge was not initially a fan of.
"I did not want to move," Welge said. "I had a really good group of friends, and we had a really good system down near St. Louis. Moving was not my first choice, but looking back on it, I would not have had the friends or the opportunities that I have without moving to Mahomet."
She kept scoring goals during her freshman season with Mahomet-Seymour. A 2023 season that saw her produce 21 goals and five assists en route to the first of four All-Area First-Team selections by The News-Gazette while helping the Bulldogs win a Class 2A regional championship.
But then she stopped scoring goals. For almost two seasons. Because the Bulldogs moved her out of her familiar position at forward to a center back defender.
"I had never played center back in my life," Welge said. "Having to learn a new position was very difficult. It was definitely a struggle because I cried almost every practice my sophomore year because I was frustrated. It wasn't what I wanted, but at the same time, it was what the team needed."
The latter part of that statement is what stands out to M-S coach Jeremy Davis. And any of Welge's teammates, either with the Bulldogs or with her club team, Central Illinois United based out of Bloomington.
"She just wants to win," M-S senior forward Ella Walk said.
Which is what Welge does. The Bulldogs compiled a 17-5-2 record this past season, and Welge won The News-Gazette All-Area Player of the Year honor for the first time in her decorated high school career. A career that saw M-S finish with a 54-23-10 record and win three Class 2A regional titles during her four seasons.
"She's always been really good," said Rylie Schulze, a Champaign Central junior forward, Eastern Michigan commit and The News-Gazette's 2025 All-Area Player of the Year who has been club teammates with her ever since Welge moved to the area.
Beyond her accomplishments and talent on soccer field, though, is what M-S sophomore goalie Lainey Jacobs cherishes the most from Welge.
"She's always encouraging us to do better," Jacobs said. "She's just such an uplifting, fun person to be around."
Staying loose
Let's focus in on the fun part for a minute. Uni High senior defender and midfielder Cali Cooper, like Schulze, has gotten to know Welge through club soccer.
"She has a lot of weird sayings and has a weird country accent sometimes," Cooper said with a laugh. "She does really good impressions, too. She's always been like that."
"She's really funny," Schulze said. "She cares a lot about other people. She's very outgoing. She'll text you and ask how you are or if you want to hang out. She's always happy."
Well, pause that thought for a second. Happy unless the team she's playing on is losing and not doing something to try to change the outcome.
"Then I get in a bad mood," Welge said.
Jacobs has relied on Welge the last two seasons. For her defensive prowess playing in front of Jacobs during the 2025 season and then for her goal-scoring capabilities during the 2026 season. And for the fact the two have bonded the last two seasons at practice from ... TikTok dances.
"I do like to dance. I make TikTok's. I'm a TikTok person," Welge said. "I feel like I'm always dancing. Or singing. One or the other."
Jacobs can attest to that.
"Whenever we're at practice and listening to music that has a TikTok dance to it," Jacobs said with a laugh, "we'll both look at each other across the field and start dancing.
"I'm going to miss Paislee so much. She is one of my best friends, and it's going to be so much harder not having her light around because she can change everyone's mood and make it better. I'm going to miss everything about her."
Finding ways to improve
The M-S girls' soccer program will miss the positive vibes Welge brings. Along with her dynamic play on the field. She matched her freshman season goal output this past season when she tallied 21 goals and seven assists, helping the Bulldogs advance to a 2A regional championship match. But Central got the better of M-S in the postseason, topping Welge and the Bulldogs 3-1 on May 23 during the regional title match in Champaign.
"Whenever we played Mahomet, we knew who we need to mark, and it was always Paislee," Central senior midfielder Chloe Sikora said. "It doesn't matter if she's on offense or defense."
Welge recorded double-digit goals again even after spending a few weeks playing defense before Davis moved her back up to her natural position.
"Goal scorers have so much more pressure on them," Davis said. "It is kind of like a keeper. When you get chances in the box, and Paislee is able to create so many, you have to have a mindset of you are going to miss some shots, but you are going to keep taking them and keep finishing them."
Welge scored two goals and handed out three assists for the Bulldogs as a sophomore in 2024, her first season playing center back, and then she delivered three goals to go along with five assists as a junior in 2025. Again, playing defense.
"I remember when she came in as a freshman, even when we were in our fieldhouse having open practices before the season started, her demeanor was that she just wanted to win," Davis said. "Even during our preseason meeting before her sophomore season where I was talking to her and said, 'I'm looking at switching your position as we get into the season, but then hearing her say, I just want to win,' is every coach's dream. Seeing how much she has grown as a leader, that's what I just love. That fuels me as a coach is getting to see kids grow over four year. She cares so much about her team and her teammates. To her, it was always about, 'How do I make the people around me better?'"
The next step
Welge is the latest M-S product to win The News-Gazette All-Area Player of the Year honor. Kelsie Donley was the first in 2009, followed by a steady mix in the past decade-plus: Sarah Van Windergen in 2014, Meredith Johnson-Monfort in 2017 and 2018, Maddy Wade in 2019, Nyah Biegler in 2021 and Cayla Koerner in 2022.
The common denominator among the six previous Bulldogs to win this honor? They all played college soccer. Donley and Wade did so at Parkland, Van Windergen at Wheaton, Johnson-Monfort at Illinois, Biegler at Eastern Illinois and Koerner at Southeast Missouri State.
Welge will continue the trend, having committed to Central Michigan in February 2025 before her junior season and signing with the Chippewas this past November. She'll actually get the chance to start her college career back near where she flourished in high school.
Central Michigan is set to play at Illinois on Aug. 5 in an exhibition match at Demirjian Park in Champaign before the Chippewas start the regular season on Aug. 12 at Loyola Chicago.
"You're kind of back at square one, but on a completely different level," Welge said. "Now, it's about getting ready for the season and being a freshman again on a team who's all connected."
A lasting legacy
Going through the recruiting process wasn't the favorite part of Welge's soccer career.
"The recruitment process is something I would never put on someone," she said with a laugh. "I would never want to do it again. I didn't want to reach out to coaches or do any of it."
Welge got on Central Michigan's radar during a showcase tournament in California in December 2024.
"They reached out to me after that, and from there on out, it was just emails back and forth to get a visit set up," Welge said.
She visited the campus in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., in January 2025. Cold temperatures and snow on the ground.
"I wanted to go south for college, but after I visited Central Michigan, I loved it there," Welge said. "Loved the campus. Loved the facilities. All of it."
Welge plans to major in business entrepreneurship and minor in finance, with the goal of owning her own business someday.
She'll adapt, however, if she has to. That aspect has come to define Welge on the soccer field almost as much as her speed, her skills and her powerful shot.
"I'm going to Central Michigan to play forward," Welge said. "That's where I'm supposed to play, but obviously, anything can change."
If it does, Welge can just reflect back on her time in Mahomet. About how an upstart freshman known for scoring goals shifted her focus and priority. All in an effort to help the team. In the process, Welge became the next great girls' soccer player to hail from Mahomet.
"We've had a great stretch of girls come through our program," Davis said. "You have to embrace that. Paislee did, and I'm sure, somewhere in Mahomet, there is that kid right now that wants to be the next Paislee Welge."
YEAR PLAYER SCHOOL
2026 Paislee Welge Mahomet-Seymour
2025 Rylie Schulze Champaign Central
2024 Payton Kaiser Centennial
2023 Celia Barkley Urbana
2022 Cayla Koerner Mahomet-Seymour
2021 Nyah Biegler Mahomet-Seymour
2019 Maddy Wade Mahomet-Seymour
YEAR PLAYER SCHOOL
2018 Meredith Johnson-Monfort Mahomet-Seymour
2017 Meredith Johnson-Monfort Mahomet-Seymour
2016 Willa Olson Centennial
2015 Maddy Chalifoux Champaign Central
2014 Sarah Van Wingerden Mahomet-Seymour
2013 Dagny Olson Centennial
2012 Katelynn Martinez Centennial
YEAR PLAYER SCHOOL
2011 Chantal Meacham Centennial
2010 Dagny Olson Centennial
2009 Kelsie Donley Mahomet-Seymour
2008 Amanda Greco Champaign Central
2007 Liz Clegg Champaign Central
2006 Enca Houk Urbana
2005 Ashley Bolen Urbana
YEAR PLAYER SCHOOL
2004 Ella Masar Urbana
2003 Megan Bushue Centennial
2002 Tricia Johnson Centennial
2001 Brittany Ward Centennial
2000 Erica Peters Champaign Central
1999 Katie Stephens Urbana
1998 Katie Stephens Urbana
Continue reading...
