Friday Features: Mississippi College looks to sustain quick start
By Maurice Patton
If
Darryl Longabaugh doesn’t seem overly excited about the way his
Mississippi College women’s soccer team has opened its season, cut him a little slack.
The veteran Lady Choctaws coach has been around long enough – 18 years – to know four games is a small sample size, even when all four result in victories.
“We feel good about the start,” Longabaugh said as his team prepared for Saturday’s matchup with Ouachita Baptist – the back end of a home-and-home series, as the Lady Choctaws won 4-0 Sunday in Arkansas.
“I think we’re getting a lot of notoriety after four games, and I don’t mind it, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do. We like where we’re going, we like the team we have, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. Four games doesn’t make a season.”
In the final year of their transition from NCAA Division III to D-II and to the Gulf South Conference, the Lady Choctaws will only be eligible for postseason participation in the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA). However, Longabaugh said his team has objectives for this season that are league-related and beyond.
“Ultimately, our goal is to finish in the (GSC) top five, host NCCAA regionals, go to nationals and win nationals like Lee did last year,” he said. “We face Alabama Huntsville and West Alabama over the next couple of weeks, and that’s when the work starts.”
An offense that has scored 17 goals in the first four games is led by senior forward
Sayit Mejia Bello, a native of Bogota, Colombia, who has four goals and four assists thus far.
“Sayit got here and she had that Colombian flair,” Longabaugh said. “She’s played internationally, she’s a very intelligent player. She’s got great skill, she’s smart, she’s a strong leader for us, good for the younger players to be around.”
Mejia Bello is among six international players on the MC roster, along with sophomore defender
Caitlin Hayes (Warrington, England), who has four goals and an assist thus far.
“Caitlin’s doing very well for us,” Longabaugh said. “She’s healthy, she’s gotten off to a good start.
“I like our mixture of youth and experience. We’ve got six internationals; two are seniors and the other four are sophomores and freshmen, but they’ve all got more experience in the game of soccer and they’re a little calmer. I like the fact that we’re so young and doing as well as we’re doing, and hopefully capable of doing.”
Senior defender
Meghan Dodge and sophomore midfielder
Hannah Bailey, with four and three assists, have helped facilitate the MC offense.
After advancing to the NCCAA region semifinals two years ago, the Lady Choctaws finished 9-8-1 last year and did not participate in postseason play. Longabaugh is hopeful this team can ride the momentum from its quick start, but also knows opponents will adjust.
“It’s early in the year; teams don’t have much of a scout on us,” he said. “As we go, teams will get better scouting reports on us and it’ll be harder."
“It’s nice to see, but there’s still work to do.”
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