By Elena Roberts
After winning the state championship last season, Northwest Rankin’s girls soccer team wanted to make school history and win back-to-back state titles.
Mission accomplished.
The Lady Cougars lost only two games this season and defeated Tupelo 3-0 in the championship game for their second straight MHSAA Class 7A state title.
The team was led by a large senior class, many of whom are taking their talents to the next level at schools such as Southwest Mississippi Community College, Jones County Junior College, Holmes CC, and Meridian CC.
However, Northwest Rankin coach Carli Little contributes a large portion of the team’s success to the program’s depth.
“We had a lot of talent spread out,” said Little, who finished her fifth season as Northwest Rankin’s head coach. “We had players just like any team that go down throughout the season with injuries, and one of the biggest things that we pride ourselves on is this ‘next man up’ mentality. Anytime a player goes down whether it’s an injury, or they’re just not having a great night the players always know there’s someone else waiting.”
Defender Myla Thortis, one of the two senior captains, was in complete agreement.
“This team was special because of our depth and experience,” Thortis said. “We knew what it was going to take to get this done, and we always had the next player up ready to step up at any time.”
A great example of Northwest Rankin’s depth was when seventh grader Tatum Johnston scored the final goal of the state championship win.
The team started the season with a target on their back after taking the title home the previous year. After six games, the team would experience their first loss to Clinton High, the team they beat in the championship the previous year. Little says that was a key moment for the team who wanted to go undefeated this season. The team was able to realize each game was a steppingstone to their two main goals: a district and state championship. From there the team regrouped and was able to beat Oak Grove in district play 3-0 to put them back on track.
The team went on another seven-game winning streak before experiencing their final loss of the season to Saint Joseph in Baton Rouge. The loss on January 4th would spur the Lady Cougars to win their last twelve games securing them the district and state championship. The team not only won the championship, but they did not allow a goal the entire tournament.
In order to keep the team focused for their 26-game season, Little said the team focuses on routine.
“We have routines,” said Little, who is assisted by Daylin Britt, Taylor Leddy and Harrison Armour. “We look at film; we have game-day talks. I think those routines help a lot by keeping them locked in, focusing on one thing at a time, not bypassing anything. They do a really good job focusing on just the next game.”
Little described the pressure of being a top contender all season as a privilege awarded from their previous year’s victory.
“When you win a state title, and you get to that success — everyone wants to beat you,” Little said. “No matter if they’re in your classification or not. Whether it’s a district game or regular season game. Everyone plays their best game against you; they really want to beat you. That’s a privilege to have that much pressure on you. Only a few teams get to experience that, and only one team gets to get that 7A state title.”
However, Little’s pride was not just in the team’s performance on the soccer field.
“I’m most proud of how they lean on each other,” Little said. “They’re teammates and friends. They truly care about each other. If somebody is not having a good game or going through a rough patch whether it’s an injury or a mental block, they really lean on each other to help and pull each other up.”
The team’s focus was on doing the little things – a personal coaching philosophy of Little. Little said everything from the classroom down to the middle school team is important. Little credited much of the team’s success to the underclassmen pushing the seniors to their fullest potential. A healthy program has a middle school team pushing their junior varsity who is in turn pushing the varsity to better. Everything from warm-ups to departure times is planned to have as little variety as possible.
“This team was special because we all worked together for one cause,” Northwest Rankin co-captain and senior goalkeeper Aly Vancor said. “We bought into the idea that we are the standard that we set, and we didn’t let that idea fall off. All year we played with the mentality of the next man up no matter what and that pushed everyone to better each other.”
“We are very excited about the championships won by our girls soccer team,” Northwest Rankin athletic director Devin Cooper said. “These girls and coaches under Coach Carli Little’s leadership have handled the pressure of expectations and being a target team in an elite way. The veteran leadership on this team has become a dominant force that propelled them to be back-to-back champions. It’s hard to win a championship and even harder to be back-to-back champions. We are very proud of this team and coaches.”
Vancor stated the winning state showed that every early morning and difficult practice paid off to create a unique experience. There are three seniors who represent the Cougars in the All-Star game: Sarah Kate Foreman, Grace Harmon, and Kaylee Ott.
