For the past six years, the East Mississippi Community College men”s soccer program has gotten contributions from a trio of Chisolm brothers.
First there was Matt from 2004-05 and he was followed by Todd from 2006-07.
The latest of the Chisolms, who are from Caledonia, to contribute is Taylor, who is a freshman forward on this year”s squad.
“(Matt and Todd) definitely had an affect on me coming here,” said the youngest Chisolm.
Making the transition to college easier for Taylor is Todd is still at EMCC as a volunteer soccer coach and the two are roommates.
Taylor credits Todd for helping him contribute as a freshman at EMCC.
“My family has always been my biggest critic,” Taylor said. “(Todd) definitely pushes me harder than anybody else does. That”s OK with me. The harder I get pushed the harder and better I play.”
Todd is glad to have Taylor on the team and his objective is to make him the best player he can be.
“I try to push him and make him better,” Todd said. “Sometimes he gets aggrivated with me, but I just tell him that”s the coach coming out of me.”
EMCC head coach Junior Noel can see that having Todd around has been a positive indluence on Taylor.
“Without him I don”t think Taylor would be doing as well as he is doing now,” Noel said. “Todd has been able to settle Taylor down quite significantly.”
For the season, Taylor has scored four goals and has four assists for EMCC, which is 5-7 overall and 0-4 in the MACJC North Division.
He has helped EMCC to its most wins in a season since the 2001 squad was 7-6-1.
Chisolm”s goals have come in two games. He scored two against East Central on Sept. 1 and two against Rust on Sept. 30.
He is currently third on the team in scoring.
“Taylor”s come in and been one of our major contributors as far as scoring and playing time,” Noel said. “Everything I”ve asked him to do he”s been able to do.
“He came from Caledonia where he was Caledonia”s big scorer, but when he came here he recognized he wasn”t going to be the go-to individual. He”s accepted his role. He has four goals and four assists for the season and that”s tremendous for a freshman coming in.”
Chisolm has had to adjust after being the go-to guy at Caledonia, where he scored a school record 28 goals and helped the Confederates to a school-best 14-5 record and make it to the Class 3A North State championship game his senior season.
“My role basically is to help us win,” Chisolm said. “When I was at Caledonia we had a formation that kind of centered around getting the ball to me to score goals. Now that I”m here I can pass the ball off with the expectancy that somebody is going to put one in the back of the net.
“I think it”s about being selfless. There are four or five guys on the team who can score goals and it”s good to see that because you don”t want to be a one threat team. You”d rather have four or five threats and I”m fine with that.”
Chisolm, who is called “Bugg” by his teammates after being nicknamed “Taterbug” by his mother as a yooung boy, is one of three freshman from Caledonia playing on the EMCC men”s soccer team. Also playing for the Lions are midfielders Tyler Pounders and Seth Wood.
“It helps having them on the team because I played with them for three or four years (at Caledonia) and it helps from the perspective that they already know what to expect from me and I know what to expect from them,” Chisolm said.
EMCC hosts Northwest on Wednesday and Itawamba on Friday and the Lions will attempt to avenge two earlier losses. They lost 6-2 to Northwest in Senatobia on Sept. 18 and 3-2 to Itawamba in Fulton on Sept. 28.
The rematch with ICC will be like a Caledonia reunion for Chisolm, Pounders and Wood. It will be a chance for them to visit with Caledonia graduates Amanda Corbell, Kayla Kilgore, Stacie Murphy and Marissa Senneff, who play on ICC”s women”s soccer team.
“When we went down there to play ICC the first time, it was kind of weird seeing them on the other sideline,” Chisolm said. “I”d have felt guilty if I would have cheered for them. I have a good friendship with most of them. One of them (Murphy) was one of my best friends probably since the second grade.”
After playing ICC, EMCC concludes the season with games at Hinds on Monday and Holmes on Wednesday.
Chisolm would like for the Lions to end the season on a positive note and finish with a winning record.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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