Soccer has been a part of Effie Morrison’s life ever since she was 3 years old.
At the time, Derrick Parnell, who would later become Effie’s step father, wanted Morrison to play soccer. Parnell played soccer and his son had played soccer, and he saw something in Morrison that convinced him the sport would be perfect for a little girl who already had overcome so much.
Before Morrison knew it, soccer became a huge part of her life. Through injuries to her wrist, shoulders, mouth, and knee, soccer was the constant. It was the driving force that provided motivation and the notion that there was something she loved to get back to.
Now soccer has provided the next step she will take in her life.
Morrison, a senior forward with the New Hope High School girls soccer team, recently was one of four Lady Trojans to give a verbal commitment to play soccer in college. Abby Wilson and Sam gave verbal commitments to play at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, while Morrison and Kayla Smith gave verbal pledges to play at Meridian Community College.
“It is crazy to think that when I was little I wanted to play college soccer,” Morrison said. “Even though I was so small, I wanted that big dream. You start getting bigger and your dreams start getting smaller, but then you realize you can start accomplishing them. It is crazy to think we are going to play college soccer.”
Morrison has been a mainstay at New Hope since she was an eighth-grader, when she had nine goals and three assists. Back then, though, Morrison was a quiet player who admitted earlier this week she wouldn’t approach people if they didn’t approach her first. She also said she butted heads with some of the older players on the team, especially Brandi Brantley, and said all of those things were part of growing up as a player, a teammate, and as an individual.
As she matured, Morrison continued to produce. She had 18 goals and three assists as a freshman and followed that up with 17 goals and 10 assists as a sophomore. Last season, she led the Lady Trojans with 19 goals and eight assists (46 points) and played a driving force in the team’s first appearance in the Mississippi High School Activities Association state finals. Even though New Hope lost to West Jones 2-0 in the Class 5A title match, Morrison and the Lady Trojans learned from the experience and are eager for a chance to get back to the state’s biggest stage.
“When I was little, this is all I have ever wanted, to play soccer in college,” Morrison said. “In middle school, I was like there is no way I am going to play soccer in college. That has to be hard and a lot of hard work. I would go to Mississippi State games and I would think, ‘There is no way I am going to make it that far.’ When I got to high school, I thought I could do it. I saw girls from other teams go and play in college and I thought I could do more than them. That started building up my hope that I was going to play soccer in college, and then it just happened.”
New Hope coach Mary Nagy is excited about the prospects of coaching her seniors one more season, even though she acknowledges it is going to be difficult to see them leave the program.
“They are all different types of players, and that is what makes them so special for being a part of the team and helping them accomplish what they have accomplished,” Nagy said. “They came in as a group and they are going out to play college soccer as a group. I feel like a proud mama. I am just so impressed with them and proud for them.”
Nagy said Morrison has matured as a player and as a teammate into someone who will do anything for her or for her teammates. She feels Morrison, who has been a team captain since she was a sophomore, will continue to be an encourager from her mouth to her feet at JCJC.
“You immediately could see the potential Effie had as a seventh-grader,” Nagy said. “She really did keep to herself and was afraid to break out. It took her to become an eighth-grader to realize I have what it takes, so she became more vocal.”
If Nagy calls Morrison “an angel” due to all of the health issues she has had, Morrison’s mother, Sharon Parnell, uses a different term of affection: Heifer. Morrison said her mother has used that nickname because she is someone she feels is bigger than she is and that she is someone who has a bigger heart than her size. The origins of the nickname stem from when Morrison was 3 months old and had jaundice. Morrison said she had to have surgery to remove a cyst and her gall bladder and to fix a bowel duct. She said her mother told her it was like “a bomb going off in her stomach” and that she wouldn’t have lived past her mid-teens if she didn’t have the surgery.
Morrison recovered from the surgery and soon thereafter found soccer. She has stayed with the sport through separated shoulders that required her to wear harnesses to keep her shoulder in place. Earlier this year, she had surgery on her right knee to repair meniscus damage. She hopes to stay healthy this season so she can help the Lady Trojans make one final run to a state championship. Along the way, she has been a part of plenty of firsts in the program’s maturation, so she feels it is only fitting she and her senior teammates help the program earn another first this season.
“With all of the injuries and surgeries I have had — I even had mouth surgery when I was in the eighth grade — you would think there is no way she was going to be able to make it in college and not get hurt,” Morrison said. “I guess it has been hard, but I see myself doing well in college.
“(Soccer) means a lot to me. It always has been the place where I can go if I have had a bad day. I come out here and these girls brighten my day and I always have someone to talk to. It has been that connection with my step dad. He has been like my dad since I was little. That is how we have connected. I couldn’t see myself anywhere else or playing any other sport.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.