Ahh, Recruiting Wednesday, and I have a good one today. Last Thursday I dropped into Rolla to have a chat with a pair of leaders on the Rolla Lady Bulldog’s team. Sophie Cox and Autumn McEachern were kind enough to sit down with me and fill me in on their college plans.
Sophie was born and raised in Rolla and has been playing soccer since she was five, beginning in the recreational leagues that are prevalent across America these days. She played with the same set of girls on the Iron Kids team until 8th grade. Autumn has bounced between Rolla and Moberly, starting with the same Iron Kids team until joining the Moberly Storm for a couple of years. Her family moved back to Rolla in time to begin High School.
Autumn did not play Club soccer during High School, concentrating instead on other activities in the Fall. She did take part in the SMSU (now MSU) Soccer Camps the past two years which led to her college opportunity. Sophie has been a member of the Busch, now St. Louis, Soccer Club since 8th grade, playing for Scott McDoniel who won a State Championship while playing for CBC in the early 80′s. Her college opportunity came out of the Metro FC College Showcase event in St. Louis last Fall.
Sophie has verbally committed to attending Tennessee-Martin, a Division 1-AA school located in the NW corner of the state close to the KY border and due SE of one of their big rivals, Southeast Missouri State. The school of 6000 competes in the Ohio Valley against SEMO, defeating their rival for the first time ever just this year. The team is in the market for a left outside defender due to graduation. That is Sophie’s position on her club team and within a week of seeing Sophie play, the Coach had contacted her and arranged for her to visit the campus. The visit occured after the season had ended so while Sophie didn’t have an opportunity to see the team play, she was impressed with the girls on the team and with the school. Martin is apparently a lot like Rolla, with an excellent college program in an area of rolling hills, and Sophie is confident she will be happy there. She plans on pursuing a Physical Therapy degree or something in that arena and is considering a coaching career.
Autumn has verbally committed to play at Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC which is 30 miles south of Raleigh, the state capitol. With an enrollment of 8000, the Campbell is a D1 school that competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Camels reached the Conference Finals last Fall under new head coach Matt Dillon, who was promoted from assistant coach. The team won the Conference in 2004 and went to the NCAA tournament and have a roster that includes players from NY to FL and out to TX as well as a team leader from Sweden. Autumn is considering Sports Medicine and Psychology as possible majors.
Sophie plays central midfield for the Lady Bulldogs and has been an impact player from the beginning. The statistics for her first two years show 10 and then 21 assists and Co-MVP Midfield for the team in 2004. In 2005 she was voted to the 1st Team All State squad as well as All Ozark 1st team. She is in a position to end up second on the career assist list at Rolla, behind only Anne Felts who just completed her senior season as a starter on the North Carolina ladies squad. Coach Howard describes here thusly:
Soph has worked extremely hard at being a good player. She is a tremendous leader on the field, both verbally and by example. An unselfish player to say the least. As many of our players are at Rolla High School we have asked Soph to play a postion that is probably not best suited for her game, but it is best for our team and Sophie still stands out as one of our best ever.
Autumn is a center forward and she’s a classic. When I asked her to describe her style, without hesitation she described the ‘with my back to the goal, receiving and then taking on the defender 1 v 1′. She was not surprised, or offended, when I indelicately mentioned that she seemed much more petite on the bench as we chatted when compared to the player I saw compete on the pitch in several significant games last Spring. It’s obvious that her competitive spirit is a significant part of her game as well. She has scored 50 goals in her first two seasons, placing her 5th on the career list and 116 total points in that period. She could overtake Kylie Moorman for second, again behind Anne Felts, as this year progresses. Autumn was selected to the 2nd Team All State squad last year as well as 1st team All Ozarks and was MVP Offense the past two years for the Lady Bulldogs. Coach Howard’s description:
Autumn is a pure finisher, plain and simple. Give her the ball around the box and she will find a way to get the ball on target. In my opinion she is most dangerous with her back to goal recieving the ball and turning. She also is a good header of the ball. She also has to be considered one of our best players ever to play at RHS
Well folks, as much as I covered I know I left some things out but I believe you get the point. This is a pair of ‘Danger Girls’ who already have competed in some significant games. It was an 0-4 loss to Glendale in the 2004 Sectional as sophomores, the 2-1 four OT victory over Kickapoo in last year’s Sectional before losing 2-3 to Nerinx Hall in last years Quarterfinal. Good luck to Sophie & Autumn as they chase their State Final ambitions one more time before moving onto Division 1 soccer!
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Thanks for the article on the girls. This site is a great soccer info resource. Particularly for this part of the state.
This is to make a slight correction on Sophie and Autumn’s soccer backgrounds and to point out something about the Rolla Girls Varsity Soccer Team.
Autumn played with Iron Kids last fall only. Sophie never played with the Iron Kids.
Both girls played coed rec. soccer as 5 year olds. As 9 year olds they were members of a U-9 Show-Me Team, the Dolphins. The Dolphins returned to Show-Me the following summer and that fall entered the Central Missouri Soccer League (CMSL) as a U-11 competitive team.
In the spring of their U-11 year, the Dolphins placed second in the CMSL U-12 League. They also won the Lake Country Soccer U-11 Tournament that spring. That summer they added 2 boys (1 goalie, 1 defender) so they could enter a tournament as a U-12 boys team (There were no U-11 or U-12 girls brackets.). They won that tournament.
As U-12s, the Dolphins continued playing in the CMSL. Since CMSL games were always on Sundays, several of the girls played coed rec. soccer games on Saturdays in Rolla and then CMSL competitive games on Sundays. Spring of their U-12 year the Dolphins repeated as Champions of the Lake Country Soccer Tournament.
The Dolphins began their U-13 year in the CMSL. They won the CMSL Fall League and Placed 3rd in the Gateway Shootout in St. Louis. In the spring, they began playing in the St. Louis Youth Soccer League (SLYSA). That spring they won 2nd place in the Tony Glavin Tournament in St. Louis.
The Dolphins did not continue into the 8th grade because some wanted to concentrate on other school sports and others wanted to try out for St. Louis soccer teams. However 15 of the 18 girls, and all of the starters, on the Rolla Girls Varsity last fall were members of the Dolphins.
As a former player and now assistant at Rolla High School, I can tell you that Sophie and Autumn are two of our best ever.
Both work to the point of exhaustion and both are willing to take physical and mental risks to turn games in our favor.
They also share a great trait in that they hate to lose.
KC is more then a former player. She sits at #4 on the Rolla career scoring list with 75 goals, 176 total points and #8 on the assists list with 26. She was also Team MVP the first three years the Rolla program was in existence (1996-1999) paving the way for the current group of players as well as Anne Felts who shared co-MVP honors with KC in 1998 and took the honors the next 3 years after that.
Thanks for being a reader Coach and for your continued contributions to Lady Bulldogs soccer!
Congratulations, Sophie and Autumn! I have enjoyed watching you play the past three years and am very much looking forward to watching you this year. You are both not only great players, but more importantly, great people! Thank you for being a part of our lives!
Steve, great story! Keep up the good work. The Howard’s enjoy your web page.
Ole, Great story on the girls. Thanks for taking the time to stop in Rolla.
Well the game against you guys is when I broke my collar bone, so I only got to play against you nearly a half…but from that I can say that you both are well diserving! Congrats and I wish you both the best.
//p.s// see ya in a few months!! grrr! haha
Even through the pain of that broken collerbone Lou saw the drive. I like her attitude too, I fully expect to be writing an article like this one about her and Megan in two years. Man is this going to be a good season!
WAY TO GO GIRLS!!! im glad i’m on your team and not playing against you. i love playing with you and i can’t wait until this season. keep up the good work!
Congrats Girls!! You have both accomplished so much already I can’t wait for this season to start. We are all proud of you both!
It has been a pleasure to work with Sophie over the past four years with the St. Louis Soccer Club. Sophie is without a doubt our most versitle player and therefore has become one of our most valuable. Sophie’s dedication to the game (two hour drive, sometimes 5 times a week) has simply amazed her teammates and coaches. Sophie is easily one of the most sincere and genuine people I have had the privilege of coaching. Her work ethic and desire to learn are second to none. We love Sophie here in St. Louis and we are proud that she is a part of our team. Sophie has made a lasting positive impression on her teammates and coaches and I am sure she will do the same in Tennessee next year.
Don’t Stop Believin’ Soph, continue to find the “glimmer” in the game and remember the treasure awaits us in June!
And for the record, I love this site, the articles are great. Thanks. Scott
I should have tracked down Scott to get a quote for the article but I have to admit that I’m learning on the fly here. It’s also great to see a guy like Scott, who I got to watch while he was winning a State Championship at CBC, continue to contribute to the game the way he does. Thanks Coach!
congrats autumn and soph! i can’t wait until season starts! i know you’ll both do awesome next year at college!!