Tom Anagnost is ready to change gears.
Last season in his first year as Mississippi State women’s soccer coach, Anagnost had one of the nation’s most experienced teams. Having older players like Mallory Eubanks and Catalina Perez to rely on allowed the Bulldogs to have one of their most successful seasons in recent memory.
But roster turnover is a reality all coaches have to deal with at some point.
This season, Anagnost will lead a team that features five seniors, 15 freshmen, and three transfers on its 29-player roster.
“This will be the youngest team I have had by far and the most inexperienced team I have had,” said Anagnost, who also has been a head coach at Miami and Central Michigan.
Anagnost and his coaching staff will get their first look at the new squad Tuesday when the Bulldogs kick off training for the 2018 campaign. He said MSU will work through two-a-days in an effort to be as prepared as possible for the new season.
“We had nine kids come early, so we have been working with them, and a few will help us right away,” Anagnost said. “We definitely landed some pieces for the future, next year and 2020, and obviously had a couple of camps where we definitely saw a handful of kids and more we really like that I’m in the process of getting to come to join our program. It has been a lot of recruiting and starting over because the group is so young.”
Anagnost said it will be impossible to replace Eubanks and Perez, who he called “two of the best players I have coached.” In January, Eubanks became MSU’s highest selection in the history of the National Women’s Soccer League draft when the Washington Spirit selected her with the 16th overall pick (second round, sixth pick). Despite battling through multiple cases of mononucleosis in her senior season, Eubanks capped her collegiate career by earning second-team All-Southeast Region honors as a midfielder from the United Soccer Coaches. She led the Bulldogs in assists (six) and moved into second place in the school record books in that category with 17 for her career.
Eubanks and Perez, a goalkeeper who earned first-team All-SEC and All-Southeast Region (United Soccer Coaches) and third-team All-America honors, played integral roles on a team that finished 9-5-4 (2-5-3 SEC) in 2017. The record snapped a string of seven-straight losing seasons.
Anagnost relied on a group of 10 seniors or graduate students to begin his process of changing the mind-set in the program.
This season, he hopes players like Carly Mauldin, who was third in minutes (1,662) last season, and MaKayla Waldner, who earned third-team All-Southeast Region honors, Courtney Robicheaux, and Jen Huckaby step into even bigger roles and help set the tone Tuesday when the team holds its first training session. Heloise Ralambosoa, a goalkeeper from France, is one of the freshmen. Anagnost said it likely will take two more weeks for Ralambosoa to arrive because she is sorting out visa issues.
“I am most concerned about the leadership of our group and their ability to grab the team by the reins, to have some personality, to be great leaders, and to have some voice,” Anagnost said. “That will be the question.”
Anagnost said the Bulldogs will be deeper than last season. He said the preseason will be used to sort out which players work best in which positions to maximize that depth.
Even though MSU will be a lot younger, Anagnost said the standards in the program won’t change. He said his biggest test will be patience and to allow the players to adjust to the college game and to the Bulldogs’ system. Still, he encourages all of the players to have a “sense of urgency,” which is something he stressed last season. In 2018, that mind-set could be even more important because there are plenty of places for players to make an
impact.
“No one is waiting for us to get better, so we have to keep doing it every day,” Anagnost said. “Everyone has to give everything they have and be all in.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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