Tiffany Huddleston and the rest of her Chicago Fire Juniors of Mississippi club members are ready to experience the sights, sounds, and food in a big city.
Huddleston, a rising senior at Starkville Academy, won’t have a lot of time for sightseeing in her fist trip to the Chicago suburb, but she will be sure to pack her appetite for one thing: Deep dish pizza.
“I think we’re going to go (get pizza) the first day when we don’t play,” Huddleston said. “We have never made it this far. I am interested to see how things pan out. Our team is going there to win.”
The Chicago food favorite should provide Huddleston and her teammates with plenty of fuel for the 11th annual U.S. Club National tournament July 27-30 in Waukegan, Ill., which is just south of the border of the state of Wisconsin and 40 miles north of downtown Chicago.
In May in Ridgeland, the Chicago Fire Juniors of Mississippi Under-17 girls team defeated the Baton Rouge Futbol Club 2-1 to earn a spot in the national event.
The Chicago Fire Juniors of Mississippi U-13 and the U-14 girls and boys teams also won championships at the Gulf States Premier League Final Four to advance to Illinois.
Goalkeeper Garland Willcutt, Huddleston’s teammate on the Starkville Academy girls soccer team, also played an integral role for the U-17 team, which is coached by David Johnson and Kenny White.
Huddleston, who has given a verbal commitment to play soccer at Mississippi State University in 2013. She scored the team’s first goal on a header off a corner kick in the semifinals Saturday. She also had the game-winning goal in the final.
“I can remember at halftime all of us were saying we wanted to pull it out,” Huddleston said. “We said we had 45 minutes to play, so let’s win this one and let’s go to Chicago.”
Huddleston has played on defense, in the midfield, and at forward for the club team. She said she felt she played well in the two matches in Ridgeland and helped provide a scoring punch, especially with the goal she scored off a header in the semifinals.
“I love to use my head scoring,” Huddleston said. “I remember it was a good feeling to score after getting up like that. I remember being pumped when it happened.”
Johnson credits Huddleston, who joined the program at the U-12 level, and Willcutt, who has been with the team for three years, for their dedication. He said they have traveled to Jackson on a consistent basis to train with the team and have been key ingredients to its success.
“The work the entire team did over the course of years really came to a head that weekend,” said Johnson, who has coached the girls since the U-11 level. “Fortunately, we came out on top. Now we’re reaping the benefits of going to a national tournament. I am very proud of those girls, not only for the work this year, but also what led up to it.”
Johnson said Huddleston’s versatility has been instrumental. He said she has the athleticism and knowledge of the game to dominate in the air. He said she has the ability to anticipate plays and to use her strength to be a force on offense or defense.
Johnson said Willcutt also has improved her game and is in a position to realize a dream of earning a scholarship to play soccer. He said the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Georgia Southern, and Mississippi College are recruiting her.
Huddleston and Willcutt aren’t the only local players who will travel to Illinois. Starkville Academy’s Sydney Passons had an assist in a 3-1 victory against the Louisiana Fire in the semifinals. She scored a goal in a 2-0 victory against the Baton Rouge Futbol Club in the final.
Coach Dwyane Demmin said Passons, a forward who joined the team last June, is the leading goal scorer on the team. He said she played a key role in helping the squad move on to nationals.
“The team as a whole had one of the best tournaments,” Demmin said. “The team finally came together performance wise. Sydney did what she has been doing all season: Scoring goals. She has been a great addition to the team.”
Demmin said he had heard of Passons prior to watching her tryout for the team. He said a couple of coaches remembered watching Passons play for a club team from Starkville against the Chicago Fire Juniors of Mississippi. He said they encouraged him to invite Passons to join their team. After watching Passons play for another day or two, Demmin extended an invitation.
From there, Demmin said Passons has fit in nicely as a versatile player who attacks and defends. He said Passons does a good job of holding the ball, releasing, and moving without the ball to create opportunities.
“She is not a selfish player and she is good at passing the ball off to her teammates and setting up her teammates,” Demmin said of the right-footed forward. “She has good speed and a knack for finishing and good strength. She has work to do to improve. Around here, she is one of the top forwards in the state for scoring goals. She hasn’t reached her potential, but it might be scary when she fully develops and fully understands what she is capable of doing.”
MSU women’s soccer coach Neil McDonald has worked at the club level training players from across the state of Mississippi. He said playing in club tournaments and at national events are great ways for players serious about soccer to hone their skills and to test themselves against some of the nation’s best players.
“I think across the board things are improving in the state,” McDonald said. “I think if you go back four or five years ago, certainly with ODP (Olympic Development Program), we tried to lay a foundation that really focus on the fundamentals of the game and teaching technique. That group (the Mississippi 95 girls ODP team that recently won the Region III championship) went forward and won with (University of Southern Mississippi coach) Scott (Ebke), so you can see they have developed into not only a good team, but that they also have a lot of good individual college level Division I players there.”
McDonald praised the hard work by the clubs and by the ODP teams in the state that has given so many players opportunities to thrive. He said the other key element is the passion and dedication the players at those levels show for learning about the game of soccer. He hopes soccer enthusiasts see the example Huddleston, Willcutt, Passons, and the rest of the Chicago Fire Juniors of Mississippi players and realize they can accomplish similar things if they invest in their craft.
“I hope this is the platform that has been laid for them to take it to the next level,” McDonald said. “They can see it is possible to compete at the regional level and the national level. These young girls are doing it. … I think (the success of teams from the state of Mississippi) is a very encouraging sign for everybody involved in the sport. Hopefully, young kids will look at that and say that could be me in a couple of years.”
Huddleston is prepared to build on what she and her age group teammates have accomplished. Buoyed by just enough deep dish pizza, Huddleston is confident the Mississippi teams will be able to make their marks at the national level.
“We’re just really excited about it and have been working hard,” Huddleston said.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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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 28 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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Related Photos
Chicago Fire Juniors of Mississippi’s Tiffany Huddleston, a rising senior at Starkville, goes up for a header that resulted in a goal in her Under-17 club team’s victory in the semifinals of the Gulf States Premier League tournament. The U-17 team won the championship to advance to the U.S. Club National tournament later this month in Waukegan, Ill. Photo by: Contributed
