STARKVILLE — Consider the 2011 season a first step.
The Starkville Academy girls soccer team intends to take the next step this season.
Buoyed by a program-changing victory against Madison-Ridgeland Academy in the first round of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Division I tournament last season, the Lady Volunteers have visions of even greater things in 2012.
In past seasons, wishful thinking may have created visions of grandeur that in the end proved to be premature.
This season, though, coach Robert Gardner and his players believe the time in now.
“I do feel like they understand (what it will take to build on last season),” Gardner said. “I broke it down to even when we had our preseason meetings. There are six teams that have won a playoff game in MAIS and we are one of the six, and no team is different that the other. We’re addressing ourselves as equals rather than (thinking about them as) the heralded teams from Jackson.”
Jackson Prep continued that tradition last season when it defeated Hattiesburg Presbyterian Christian 2-1 to win the 2011 state title. Presbyterian Christian, the 2010 champion, eliminated Starkville Academy 2-0 in the state semifinals.
As much as that loss hurt, Starkville Academy, which was the No. 3 seed from the South, prefers to look back at its 2-1 victory against MRA that kept its season alive. Goals by Payton Allen and Sallie Kate Richardson, off assists by Tiffany Huddleston and Jessica Dennis, paved the way for the Lady Volunteers to advance.
“I just remember beating MRA and everybody being excited because we had never done that,” Huddleston said. “I hope those of us who were a part of that last year remember how that felt next week.”
Looking back, Huddleston admits Starkville Academy might have surprised people, but she knows the team wanted it. Gardner said the momentum from that victory has carried over to this season. He said the team isn’t going to get too far ahead of itself, especially since it plays two of its first three matches on the road. Starkville Academy opens the season at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Lamar School. It then will play at 5:30 p.m. Thursday against Jackson Academy. Starkville Academy will play host to Jackson Prep at 4 p.m. Aug. 14.
Gardner feels his team will need to break the season into parts (preseason, regular season, and postseason) and remained focused. He has liked what he has seen in offseason workouts as the team prepares to open the season.
“There was plenty of confidence gained (from the victory against MRA in the playoffs),” Gardner said. “I felt we became something. We took a big step that hadn’t been taken. We had never won in the playoffs, so that was a massive priority for us. The team we lost to we have never beaten them in my time here. That is starting to become a real concentration of mine. The girls really want to take care of that, as do I.”
It may take Starkville Academy to develop the chemistry of a championship side. Huddleston, goalkeeper Garland Willcutt, and forward Sydney Passons will spend the weekend with their Chicago Fire Juniors of Mississippi club teams at the U.S. Club National tournament in Waukegan, Ill., which is 40 miles north of downtown Chicago.
Those three figure to play key roles on an experienced team that also returns Tiffany Evans and Nora Kathryn Carroll. Evans, Carroll, and Huddleston share Gardner’s optimism for this season because they want 2012 to be the year when Starkville Academy takes the next step.
“I think we will be better this year just by having more confidence and knowing we can make it that far,” Carroll said. “Our communication has gotten a lot better. As a team, we’re encouraging each other.”
Said Huddleston, “It is not going to be handed to us, so we’re going to have to work for it.”
Gardner feels the team has the potential to realize that goal.
“The motivation and the will to win has always been there,” Gardner said. “I do take a lot of responsibility for failures, if you want to call them that, of the past, but with each thing we change, the reason we’re changing is we’re trying to get better. … The whole idea is progression and trying to get better. If we can do that, then myself and my assistant coach are doing the right things for these girls.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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