Mary Nagy isn’t afraid to say she didn’t know a lot about soccer when she first became New Hope High School girls soccer coach.
“I didn’t know what a square pass was when I took over in 2003, when I was put in a spot and told, ‘Coach or there is no girls program,’ ” said Nagy, referring to a pass across the field of play. “My daughters were players. I was the momma who said, ‘Kick the ball, chase the ball.’ I read ‘Soccer for Dummies’ for two years. It is probably the most informative book I have ever read.”
Times have changed at New Hope. Not only is Nagy a little more hip to the lingo of soccer, but her players also have learned to execute more advanced skills that have pushed the program into uncharted territory.
At 6 tonight, New Hope will try to continue its best season in school history when it plays host to Lewisburg in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A North State title match.
New Hope (10-2-1) advanced to its first North State championship game thanks to a 4-2 victory against Oxford in a penalty kick shootout. Lewisburg eliminated Germantown 2-1. The Lady Trojans earned the right to play host to the match thanks to a fewer number of home games in the playoffs.
Nagy has guided New Hope on its journey of firsts. New Hope lost to Ridgeland in the first round of the playoffs in 2010. It defeated Oxford in overtime for what Nagy believes is the program’s first playoff victory in 2011. Overtime victories against Hernando and Saltillo the next two seasons followed, as did losses to Ridgeland in the second round.
This season, Ridgeland lost in the first round, removing New Hope’s nemesis, even though the Lady Trojans would have liked to have done the deed themselves. New Hope still had to go overtime to beat Vicksburg 5-4 in the first round before it went 110 scoreless minutes before dispatching Oxford.
Along the way, Nagy has learned about the game with former assistant coach Krisi Boren and current assistant coach Will Taylor. She has attended camps to learn even more and feels she and her players have matured with the game.
“Every year we saw natural progression,” Nagy said. “We never could get that darned district championship. We would always share it with Saltillo or Starkville. We never could call it our own outright, which always was a big disappointment. We would go to the playoffs and we would play these No. 1 seeds and beat them and we realized this is us, and we should be having these district championship signs everywhere.
“I could see this young group was something special, but that we needed three or four years. Here is Effie (Morrison’s) fourth year and here is Madison (Thrasher’s) third year. This is my junior and sophomore group, with just a few little, lone seniors. We knew they were special. We didn’t know exactly what we were going to get. … We knew it could happen if we stayed injury free and if we listened.”
With only three seniors — Ashley Martian, Erin Robertson, and Shiloh Wilson — New Hope figures to have many of its key ingredients back next season, but Nagy and the Lady Trojans know nothing is guaranteed, so they are focused on taking care of business.
For Morrison, a midfielder/forward who is part of a junior class that has helped provide a foundation for the program, there is no time better than today to make more history.
“These girls are my life. It is all I want is for them to be happy and for the team to have success,” Morrison said. “Growing up with them and to see all of us improve as a team has been awesome. It was hard. I remember seventh- and eighth-grade year we ran sprint after sprint after sprint because we were so immature and we weren’t to the point where we concepted everything. That ninth- and 10th-grade year it got better, and this year, we have hardly had any repercussions for the way we have acted. We have all grown up and matured as we have aged.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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