ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida Southern College women's lacrosse player Charlie Laye has been selected as the 2025-26 Sunshine State Conference Woman of the Year, recognizing the top female student-athlete who showed exemplary achievements in academics, athletics, leadership, and community service.

Athletic Directors, Senior Woman Administrators, Faculty Athletic Representatives and Athletic Communication Directors from each of the league's 11 member institutions selected Laye from a pool of nominees. Candidates were scored in a variety of categories. Voters could not score their own nominees.

Laye joins Jackie Stoller (2022-23) and Emily Santoli (2017-18) as FSC women's lacrosse players selected to the honor. Moccasin cross country student-athlete Addison Cantor was also selected to win this prestigious award in the 2019-20 academic year.

Laye helped Florida Southern to the 2026 NCAA Division II Women's Lacrosse National Championship, while graduating with a bachelor's degree in accounting and earning her master's degree in accountancy. She posted a 3.96 undergraduate GPA and a 3.93 graduate GPA, passed two sections of the CPA Exam during her final season and was recognized as the NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete at the national championship site.

After suffering a torn ACL and meniscus during her sophomore season, Laye returned to become one of the nation's premier players. As team captain during her fifth year, she helped guide the Moccasins to the national championship while earning IWLCA First Team All-America, South Region First Team, and All-Sunshine State Conference First Team honors. She also earned USA Lacrosse Second Team All-America recognition and participated in the IWLCA Senior All-Star Game.

Academically, Laye was named the IWLCA Division II Scholar-Athlete of the Year, earned CSC Academic All-America Second Team honors and was a multiple-time SSC Commissioner's Honor Roll recipient.

In the community, Laye dedicated herself to serving others through Big Brothers Big Sisters, mentoring an elementary school student throughout her recovery from injury and the remainder of her collegiate career. She also volunteered at youth lacrosse events, including the Presidents Cup and National Cup tournaments, participated in Shine-On community outreach, and served as a leader within Beta Alpha Psi.