Carly Mauldin just wants a chance.
Like many job seekers, lack of experience can be an obstacle to overcome when you’re trying to take the next step in your professional career. That hurdle also is one college students/graduates face when they’re plotting their first steps.
For Mauldin, that next move could come next week at the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) draft. The Mississippi State standout hopes to hear her name called at some point in the four-round draft that will kick off at 11 a.m. Thursday in Chicago. The event will be held in conjunction with the United Soccer Coaches Convention. The Chicago Red Stars have the No. 1 pick in the draft, which will select 36 players.
“I want to always be the best on the field and the desire helped me in the SEC,” Mauldin said. “I’m hoping coaches in the NWSL see my desire to win and be my best at all times. It’s challenging to get in the league. No doubt about that. I’m just hoping someone gives me a chance.”
Last season, the Washington Spirit used the 16th overall pick to select MSU’s Mallory Eubanks in the second round. She joined Elisabeth Sullivan (Portland Thorns FC, 2014) as the only MSU players selected in the NWSL draft. Sullivan was the 31st overall pick in the fourth round.
Mauldin, a 5-foot-5 midfielder from Laurel, hopes to add her name to the list after a senior season in which she earned second-team All-Southeastern Conference honors. Mauldin was fourth on the team in minutes (1,568) and had four goals and one assist (nine points) to help lead MSU (9-7-2) to its first appearance in the NCAA tournament.
“I still get so excited thinking about how I was part of a history-making team,” Mauldin said.
Mauldin still has that same excitement for soccer, which is why she said she wants to keep playing. Since the season ended, she said she has been doing a workout program provided by her strength coach and getting plenty of touches on the ball. She feels she grew to be “much stronger and composed” on the ball and that she had a “better understanding” of the game by her senior season.
“I’m not ready to give up the sport, and I feel like I am too close to give up,” said Mauldin, who started every match in her MSU career.
Tom Anagnost, who coached Mauldin the last two seasons, always praised his midfielder when asked about her. Anagnost resigned Friday as MSU’s coach to pursue another coaching opportunity. He didn’t return a message Friday.
“Carly is ultra-committed in her preparations and training and has really improved,” Anagnost said earlier this season. “Carly is the heart and soul of the team. She has a very high standard for herself teammates and is our leader on the field.”
To Anagnost’s point, Mauldin said “my leadership and my accuracy of passes” were her two biggest areas of growth. She credits her parents, Lance and Stacie, for instilling in her a work ethic that always made her one of the hardest driving players on the field. She hopes that quality will serve her well next week, or in the future when she tries to win a roster spot with a professional club.
Mauldin said she hasn’t talked with any coaches or general managers from NWSL teams. She said she will try to play overseas if she isn’t able to work out something in the United States.
“I’m more anxious than anything,” Mauldin said. “They only select a few.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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