Sam Vogel wanted to shake her phone.
She wasn’t having relationship issues or reacting to a frustrating phone call. The New Hope High School senior wanted her phone to ring or to buzz to let her know Jones County Junior College women’s soccer coach Dolores Deasley was calling so she could renew a dialogue that first started in June at the Paul Harbin Soccer Camp at William Carey in Hattiesburg.
But when the call or text didn’t come as quickly as she thought, Vogel wondered what the next step would be in her quest to play soccer in college.
Little did Vogel know all she had to do was check her email. For someone who “never” checks her email, it took time for Vogel to call up that method of communication. When she finally did, she took a sigh of relief and realized everything would be fine.
From there, all Vogel had to do is give Deasley a verbal commitment to play soccer at JCJC and her college plans were set. That’s what Vogel recently did. In the process, she recently became one of four New Hope High School players to set plans to play soccer in college. Vogel will join Abby Wilson at JCJC in Ellisville next season, while Effie Morrison and Kayla Smith will play at Meridian Community College.
“I like it because I don’t have to worry about scouts or anything. All I have to worry about is this team,” Vogel said. “I already know where I am going, and she stuck with me. It is a relief and a weight off my shoulders.”
Vogel was second in scoring (12 goals, eight assists, 32 points) last season for a New Hope team that went 11-3-1 and lost to West Jones in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A state title game. The title game appearance was the first in program history. It was built in part off the maturation of a solid group of players that came before Vogel and the continued development of this senior class and a promising group of young players that is going to follow in the footsteps of those players.
New Hope coach Mary Nagy said it has been exciting to watch so many young players grow into talented soccer players and get a chance to play at the next level. She is equally excited to have a chance to take this year’s team another step so it can win its first state crown.
Vogel figures to play an integral role in that journey. She had four goals and eight assists as a sophomore after joining the program as an eighth-grader. Nagy said Vogel loves to talk and to sing when she is on the field and is someone who brings so much personality to the team.
“She is phenomenal at left forward because she is a left-footed kicker and she can take those long shots,” Nagy said. “I love watching her play midfield for the fact she loves to run. She gets a stride on her and she knows how to fill the empty space. It is like poetry in motion.”
Vogel, who has been a member of the state’s Olympic Development Program for three years, played with the Chicago Fire club team earlier this year. She said the timing was right for her and her teammates this summer when they met Deasley, who served as their coach at the team camp at William Carey. Vogel made an impression on Deasley, too, by driving by herself from Ellisville to Hattiesburg to arrive just in time to join her Lady Trojan teammates for the camp.
Once Vogel was there, she showcased her speed and her knowledge of the game. Vogel said Deasley asked her if she was interested in playing soccer in college, which started a courtship that persevered through the travails of modern communication.
“I was so tired because I just had ODP camp,” Vogel said. “I liked coach Deasley because I felt like she pushed me. I think it will be a good step between high school and a four-year school.”
Vogel terrorizes defenses with her speed and athleticism at forward. She also had played goalkeeper as recently as a few years ago when she was on an Under-14 team. She also has played midfield and other positions, and admits goalkeeper is her favorite position.
Nagy said Vogel likely won’t play goalkeeper this season unless it is an emergency. She hopes that isn’t the case because she would love to see New Hope build on last season’s experience against West Jones and get back to the state’s biggest stage. She feels Vogel and the rest of the seniors will play key roles in that journey.
“(Vogel) has been so beneficial to the success of our team because while she might not have always led our team in scoring or in assists, she has always been there to start that offensive run for us,” Nagy said.
Vogel said she always has had a knack for having a strong kick, or finishing burst. She said she used to run on the New Hope High cross country team because she enjoyed the last stretch of the races so she could sprint to the finish.
“I just like outrunning people,” Vogel said. “I like the adrenaline rush.”
Vogel follows that same approach on the soccer field, daring defenders to run with her or using her speed and athleticism to force them into mistakes that she or her teammates can cash in. It’s the same kind of creativity and disruption Vogel hopes to bring to JCJC so she can make just as big an impact on that program as the one she has made on the one at New Hope.
“She fills that empty space and she is so good with movement, it is such a huge advantage for us,” Nagy said. “A lot of people have a hard time staying on her because she is such a space filler and a runner. She is hard to keep tabs on.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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