By Tanner Marlar
After stacking up multiple winning seasons, Mississippi State University women’s soccer head coach James Armstrong knew that he had a good team coming back for 2024.
However, nobody could have predicted just how good the team would be at this point in the season. Sitting at fifth in the RPI, the most important rankings in all of Division 1 soccer, Mississippi State controls its own destiny and is in prime position to finish out the best season in the program’s history, and it’s not without some Mississippi flavoring, either.
Loposer Saw the Light
When Price Loposer committed to play soccer at Ole Miss, her family was endlessly proud of her, but they always joked about her joining the dark side.
“My entire family went to (Mississippi) State,” Loposer said. “My grandfather played football at State. My dad and mom went to state. We were a big State family, but me and my brother ended up going to, as they would say, the dark side.”
Loposer just finished putting a bow on a prep career that would leave anyone’s head spinning. Weekends were filled with travel, long matches and road trips in between, and she thought she was ready to take the next step in her career. She turned out to be right, and settled in to her new role at Ole Miss.
However, plans changed as they often do, and Loposer entered the transfer portal after a brief stint in Oxford. She landed at the University of Central Florida, where the next few years would prove to be the most tumultuous of her career. Following multiple knee rehabilitations, Loposer entered the transfer portal again and chose Mississippi State.
“I always had been watching State,” said Loposer. “James (Armstrong) has created an unbelievable program here, and every year they’ve progressively gotten better. From how State was when I started looking at colleges, no one would have been able to predict how (Armstrong) has turned this program around.”
To the Sunshine State and Back Again: Rylie Thompson
Meanwhile, at the University of Florida, another Mississippi girl began her college soccer career. Rylie Thompson grew up in Meridian, but transferred to the famed IMG Academy at 14 to play soccer. As any Magnolia State transplant would explain, the transition to living outside of Mississippi is never easy, but Thompson took it in stride.
“I think (transferring to IMG) was one of the best decisions I could have ever made,” said Thompson in a recent interview. “It helped shape me into the person and player I am today. I met so many coaches and people who have had a lasting impact in my life and who I look at as role models and family now. It helped me grow into my own person at a young age, which made the transition to college an absolute breeze.”
Upon finishing up her career at IMG, Thompson committed to play at UF. There, Thompson was introduced to the rough and tumble space of college athletics via a coaching change immediately following her freshman campaign. Thankfully for her, though, that change led her to MSU and a much shorter drive to home.
“Moving back home to Mississippi was a huge decision for me,” said Thompson. “I unfortunately went through a rough coaching change my freshman year at Florida and thought the best thing to do was to enter the portal. After speaking with the staff at Mississippi State, I knew this would be the best decision. I was in close contact with them throughout my recruiting and trust them and know that they will always have my best interest in mind as a person and a player. I also thought it would be awesome to be closer to my family since it had been six years since I lived close to home.”
Prep Soccer in Mississippi
While Thompson played out her prep days at IMG, Loposer elected to stay closer to home, and that showed her one thing – making it out of the Mississippi Soccer scene is hard.
Loposer recounted traveling between state after state, and how hard it was to get recruited at the collegiate level for soccer in Mississippi.
“It was a lot,” said Loposer when asked about her prep school experience. “It was really hard getting recruited out of Mississippi…I played two years up for the majority of my select career just due to the fact that most of the girls my age didn’t want to pursue a college career, but I ended up going to Birmingham my sophomore, junior and senior year driver four hours there and four hours back…then I would play on my local select team, because I wanted to stay local and support my club, and then I also played my prep soccer, so I was on three different teams at once.”
She admits that playing that much probably wasn’t the smartest decision for her, but as a 15 year old, nobody was telling her not to play the sport she loved. When it comes to the current state of prep soccer in Mississippi, Loposer said that the multifaceted styles of play set her up for success. For young women looking to make their mark on the collegiate space, Loposer had a simple message.
“Don’t make any excuses for yourself,” said Loposer. “Anything is really possible. When I first started out, I didn’t even really. start looking at colleges until I got my first offer, and I was like ‘Oh, wow, this is actually a reality and a possible thing for me, and I really need to start doing my research and understanding what I do and don’t want from a college program.’ But don’t limit yourself on what you think you can accomplish, because if you work hard, have a good attitude and handle your day-to-day things like school and have a good reputation and be a good person, I think doors will open.”
Doors certainly opened for Loposer, and they remain open for Mississippi State soccer and its two Mississippi Queens of the pitch. MSU has its last three regular season matches against Kentucky, Texas A&M and South Carolina on October 24, 27 and 30, respectively, and currently holds first place in the SEC.
