Lady Eagles face tall task in District

MCC faces undefeated and four-time District champs in Texas

By Sean Covich, MCC Sports Information Director

(MERIDIAN) - The NJCAA District E Women’s Soccer Championship will be decided this weekend with the champions of Region 14 (Eastern Texas) and Region 23 (Louisiana/Mississippi) meeting on Saturday, November 8th on the campus of Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.

The game will be played at noon when the host-Navarro College Lady Bulldogs meet the Meridian Community College Lady Eagles.

Navarro (16-0) is looking to build on their streak of four straight District E titles when they host the surging Lady Eagles (8-2-1).

The Navarro team is an experienced one to say the least having been a NJCAA national championship tournament participant four consecutive seasons. Currently Navarro is one of only two unbeaten and untied teams in NJCAA Division I women’s soccer and they are the No. 2 team in the nation according to the NJCAA poll.

“We’ve got nothing to lose,” said MCC head coach Alex George.

“We’re the only team representing the State of Mississippi left in the national championship race. We’re playing an undefeated team ranked No. 2 in the nation and we’re just excited to go out there and play for 90 minutes and see what happens.”

The Lady Bulldogs have been led this year by forward, Venicia Reid. The freshman from Jamaica has scored 29 goals and ranks as the nation’s top scorer.

Ironically, Reid was on a path to Meridian this past summer as she was being recruited by MCC head coach Alex George.

“Reid is from the same hometown as our own Jamaican player, Christina Murray,” said George.

“I thought we had a package deal to get them both here, but for whatever reason plans fell through and now ironically, we will face her with a championship on the line.”

In 16 games for Navarro, Reid has three hat-trick (three goals) games and a four goal performance which came against fellow Texas school, Lon Morris College.

“We’ve got to find a way to stop her,” said George.

“We’re looking to put our All Region player on her to neutralize her. Holly Head, a sophomore for us, will guard her and try to slow her down.”

MCC will feature their own Jamaican star, Christina Murray. Murray leads the Lady Eagles in scoring with 10 goals in 11 games. She is also tied for most assist on the team with four.

“I can’t say enough about the talent on this team,” said George.

“It’s just been a surplus of good things happening this year for us. We’ve got a new facility with coach’s offices and perhaps the biggest addition was a fulltime assistant coach in Michael Smith.”

Although MCC is considered a big underdog Saturday when they face the task of knocking off the undefeated, No. 2 team in the nation, Coach George sees it as an opportunity, win or lose, to continue to build the program.

“When we started this program in 2002 we only had 12 girls on the team, but that team won 10 games and was .500 and we’ve been above .500 every season since then, so I feel like very year we’ve continued to build the program here at MCC,” said George.

“Being one win away from the national championship tournament is another huge step for us. Last year we won our first divisional title and went on to win our first state championship. Now this year we back that up with a regional championship and a trip to our first ever district championship.”

Winner of the Navarro-Meridian District E title game will advance to the NJCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championships on November 20-23 in Chandler, Arizona.

“We’re all in,” said George.

“I told the girls we’re all in. We’ve come this far since August 1st and we’ve to leave it all on the field Saturday. If we do that, represent MCC and give it all we’ve got, then I’ll call it a win.”

Win or lose for the Lady Eagles, Saturday will certainly mark yet another big step for women’s soccer at Meridian Community College.