STARKVILLE — Togetherness is a familiar concept for Lauren Lyle.
But the Starkville Academy girls soccer team hasn’t relied on one player to have a season to remember.
Instead, the Lady Volunteers have moved one step from making history thanks to a group of experienced players that has played together for many years and cultivated a chemistry that allows the squad to play “the beautiful game” so effectively.
Led by Lyle and senior classmates Shelton Spivey, Sydney Passons, Hays Miller, Savannah Hubbard, Hannah Cuevas, and Bonner Hughes, Starkville Academy (12-1-1) will try to make history at 3 p.m. today when it takes on Hartfield Academy in Flowood for the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Division III Championship.
Starkville Academy is coming off a 6-0 victory against Indianola Academy on Thursday at the Starkville Sportsplex. Lyle had three goals, while Spivey had two and Passons added another. The performance was one of the Lady Volunteers’ best of the season and left Lyle eager to play the final game of her high school career a little earlier.
“I think we played extremely well,” Lyle said. “I think we really played together as a team. Our passes and crosses, everything (was working). We just played really well together.”
Starkville Academy advanced to the title match with a selfless approach that involved all of its players. Regardless of who first-year head coach Matt Sykes inserted into the game, the Lady Volunteers continued to share the ball, make angled runs, and crash the goal in support of their teammates. The Lady Volunteers also displayed a determination on both ends of the field to pressure their opponent and a desire that they weren’t going to allow any player to get in behind their defense.
Sykes credited his players for raising their level of play in the postseason and taking to heart that soccer is a “team game” rather than a “me game.” He said the team’s effort against Indianola Academy epitomized the notion that the Lady Volunteers value working together, sharing the ball, and supporting each other all over the field.
That’s why it was so hard for Lyle to imagine having to wait three more days to play again. She said she and her teammates talked in school Thursday about wanting to make their final match at home special. She said that talk didn’t add any pressure to their last game in Starkville. Instead, it heightened the awareness of what the team has the potential to accomplish.
“We were sad about (playing our last game at home), but we also were excited about it because we knew a lot of people would come out to see it,” Lyle said. “It is emotional because we have played here since we were in rec(reational soccer) and we were little.”
Today, Starkville Academy will play for what is believed to be the program’s first state title nearly three hours away from home. Lyle doesn’t think being on the road will affect the Lady Volunteers. After all, years of playing together has helped the players, especially the seniors, know what it takes to overcome ups and downs. This afternoon, they want to make sure the 2016 season ends with the ultimate send-off.
“We’re all nervous just because we don’t really know if a team has ever gotten to a state championship game, but we know no one has ever won it,” Lyle said. “It is a lot on our plate, but we are all so excited.
“It gives us a lot more motivation, too, knowing we can play even better than we have all season, and I hope it can keep on going.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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