Women’s Soccer Conference Preview
The Lady Choctaws are building momentum as they begin conference play.
The Lady Choctaws soccer team is coming off a successful 2021 campaign. After a 12-4 regular season record, the Lady Choctaws suffered a disappointing loss in the Gulf South Conference tournament to West Alabama. Despite the conference tournament loss, the Lady Choctaws still received an at-large bid to the Division II women’s soccer tournament where they lost to Florida Tech 4-1 which ended in a penalty kick shootout.
Returning players from last year’s squad were disappointed in how their season ended. “We were not as successful as we were planning to be, but we are a very young team with a lot of incoming freshmen,” junior Katie Crochet said. The youth of this year’s team included eight freshmen and 16 sophomores.
The 2022 team returns many key starters. Beatrice Currie, a graduate student forward, enjoyed a productive 2021 season, starting 18 games and leading the Lady Choctaws with nine goals. Currie was named second-team All-South Region and first-team All-GSC for her senior campaign. The Lady Choctaws also return an elite sister duo in Avery and Erin Hederman. Last year Avery Hederman was named first-team All-South Region and first-team All-GSC. Avery started in all 18 matches and scored six goals with four assists. Erin Hederman had her season cut short last year due to a leg injury that sidelined her after just six matches. However, in those six matches, Erin logged six goals and two assists. Redshirt senior Holly Pascoe led the team with seven assists.
These starters are optimistic as the 2022 campaign gets underway. “Everyone is in high spirits coming into this season,” Avery Hederman said. “We’re excited to get going and we’ve gotten a lot closer over preseason.”
The Lady Choctaws also had a short but successful preseason defeating both Belhaven University and Holmes Community College. Following those preseason contests, the Lady Choctaws recorded a 3-1 record in non-conference play. After a tough road loss to #15 Columbus 5-0, they bounced back in a big way with a pair of home wins. Through those three games, they were led in scoring by Erin Hederman who already has three goals on the season. Additionally, Avery Headerman and Kaylee foster have two goals each.
The Lady Choctaws will begin conference play on Friday, September 9 at home against the University of Auburn-Montgomery at 1 p.m.