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[] Lady Indians lose heartbreaker at state tourney (10/24/2009)
According to ICC head coach Mike Sullivan, "heartbreak" was the best word to describe this past weekend's MACJC State Soccer Tournament for his Lady Indians. Pearl River moved into the state championship game by beating the Lady Indians 1 - 0 at Hinds CC in semi-final action on Saturday afternoon.
"This was one of those games where someone had to lose and unfortunately, it was us," said Sullivan, who has led his women's program at the College to three straight appearances in the state tourney in his three years at the helm of the program. "We can hold our heads high though, as we played as hard as we could. We just came up an inch short."
The first half was a scoreless battle with both teams having chances but the defenses for both squads were outstanding. The second half was identical to the first half as it was back and forth the whole time but in the 86th minute, Pearl River was able to break through the Red and Blue defense and scored the game winner.
Defensively, the Lady Indians had a stellar game as they held the state's leading scoring team to the one goal. Meagan Nichols of Tupelo, in the goal, had a stellar game as did defenders Ashley Symes (Tupelo), Katelynn Davis (Cordova, Tenn.), Amanda Corbell (Caledonia), and Jordan Dunnam (New Albany).
Pearl River would go on to win the state title as it defeated Gulf Coast the next day in the championship game. The state semi-final faceoff marked the end of the careers of quite a few sophomores; Rhea McCord (Tupelo), Symes, Lauren Nichols (Tupelo), Corbell, Meagan Nichols, Meghan Brown (Tupelo), Marissa Senneff (Caledonia), Katelynn Barefoot (Tupelo), Aleigha Bondurant (Tupelo), and Joscelyn Dexter (Tishomingo).
"I am really going to miss these young women as they've been a lot of fun to coach and they always played hard," added Sullivan, who admitted earlier this week losing on a game winning goal in a scoreless state tourney tussle with only four minutes left in the game left a stinging sensation that everyone involved in the program had never quite felt before. "This sophomore class also made the state playoffs both years they were here and that's a first in the history of our program."
With this loss, the Red and Blue finished tied for third place in the state and ended the fall campaign with an overall record of 7 - 7 - 1.
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[] ICC/PRCC to kick off state soccer tourney (10/23/2009)
Hinds Community College and Tom Shepherd Field in Raymond will serve as the host site for the 2009 Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) men's and women's soccer state tournaments.
Hinds earned the right to host due to the Lady Eagles (9-7 and 6-0 in the North division) winning the North division Wednesday night in Tupelo against ICC 3-1.
"Hinds has a good team but we just didn't put 90 minutes together that night," said Lady Indians head coach Mike Sullivan, who has led his program to three straight state tournament appearances in his three years at the helm of the ICC women's program. "I feel confident that that game will help us realize how hard we are going to have to fight this weekend."
With the loss, Itawamba starts the post-season with an 8-6-1 overall mark after finishing the north division with a 4-2 record.
The single-elimination tournament format will consist of eight teams total, four men's teams and four women's teams. The top two teams from the North and South divisions will make up the tournament competitors.
Play will begin on Saturday at 12 p.m. as Itawamba Community College (#2 seed in women's North) and Pearl River Community College (#1 seed in women's South). The 2 p.m. game will pit Gulf Coast Community College (#1 seed in men's South) against Northwest Community College (#2 seed in men's North).
ICC is led in scoring by former Tupelo High School standout Meghan Brown, who has scored 14 goals this year despite missing four games due to an injury. The Lady Indians kicked off their season by tying PRCC and the Lady Wildcats have won every game since that season opening tie to ICC.
Hinds will then kick off play at 4 p.m. on Saturday, as the Lady Eagles of Hinds (#1 seed in women's North) will face Gulf Coast Community College (#2 seed in women's South). The Hinds Eagles, who won their 10th straight North division title on Wednesday after defeating Itawamba Community College, 7-2, will complete first-day action at 6 p.m., as they take on Jones County Junior College (#2 seed in men's South).
The women's championship game will be played at 5 p.m. on Sunday with the two winning teams on Saturday squaring off, and the men's title contest will follow immediately after at 7 p.m.
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[] Lady Indians fall short in division title tussle (10/21/2009)
The Lady Indians came up short in their regular season finale against Hinds, 3 - 1. ICC, which had a chance to win at least a share of the north division title with a victory Wednesday night in Tupelo, had already clinched a play-off spot prior to this match.
"This game was a tough one to take," said Lady Indians head coach Mike Sullivan moments after the contest played at Ballard Park in Tupelo. "We almost totally controlled the first half until the last few minutes when Hinds tied it. But when we came out from halftime, Hinds controlled the second like we controlled the first half."
Sullivan added, " we could have had a good lead at the half, but missed our chances to do that and then in the second half, Hinds missed plenty of chances. It was definitely two different halves for each team."
The Lady Indians got on the board first when Rhea McCord of Tupelo scored off an errant pass from a Hinds player and the score would stay that way until the end of the half when a Hinds attacking player got in behind the ICC defense to tie the score at 1 - 1. The second half saw ICC dodge a few bullets and the game remained tied until the scoreboard read four minutes when Hinds received a penalty kick to take the lead.
"That goal, in that manner and that late, really took the wind out of our sails," said Sullivan, who has led the Lady Indians to three straight appearances in the state playoffs in his three years at the helm of the program.
Two minutes later, Hinds scored on another set piece on a free kick just outside the box.
"Hinds has a good team but we just didn't put 90 minutes together tonight," concluded Sullivan, whose leading scorer on the year was Meghan Brown of Tupelo with 14 goals, despite missing four games to injury. "I feel confident that this game will help us realize how hard we are going to have to fight this weekend.
With the loss, the Lady Indians start the post-season with an 8 - 6 -1 overall mark and 4 - 2 in the north division.
The Lady Indians will face Pearl River CC Saturday at the state tournament in the first semi-final of the day at 12:00. Pearl River comes in as the south division champion and has a undefeated record of 15 - 0 - 1. The Lady Wildcats one tie on the season was to the Red and Blue of ICC in the first match of the season. The state championship game will be on Sunday at 5:00.
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[] Itawamba shuts out East Mississippi (10/16/2009)
The field conditions in Scooba were, to be very generous, far from ideal, as almost every inch of the field was mud, but the Lady Indians did not let that bother them as they registered their second shutout of the season, winning by a margin of 5 - 0.
"We had already wrapped up out our third straight play-off trip, but we wanted to keep the momentum going with a big win today and considering the conditions, we did just that," said coach Mike Sullivan.
Meghan Brown had a huge game today by getting the hat-trick + 1 today totaling four goals and Shelby Brown added the other goal when her shot deflected off a Lady Lion defender into the goal. Aleigha Bondurant added two assists on the day and Shelby Brown added the other assist in the north division duel.
The Lady Indian defense, led by sophomores Ashley Symes, Meagan Nichols, and Amanda Corbell, also had a great game by not allowing any shots on goal today.
With the win, ICC sets up a showdown on Wednesday with Hinds for the division title.
"Hinds beat us 4 - 1 earlier in the year, so we have our work cut out for us but the way we have been playing lately, I feel confident they will see a much different Lady Indian team."
That game will be played Wednesday at Ballard Park in Tupelo at 5:00pm.
The ICC Soccer program would like to give a big thanks to Alex Farned, director of soccer, and the Tupelo Parks and Recreation Department for allowing us to play a match every year at their complex.
"This gives us a chance to play a game at "home" under the lights at a time when everyone can come out and see us play and hopefully we will have a big crowd to cheer our ladies on in this division title game," added Sullivan.
With today's win, the Lady Indians move to 7 - 5 - 1 overall and 4 - 1 - 0 in the North Division.
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[] Lady Indians wrap up another spot in the playoffs (10/9/2009)
For the third year in a row, the Lady Indians are headed to post season play as they defeated the Northwest Lady Rangers 4 -1 to clinch a play-off spot.
"We played in the worst weather imaginable today, with the wind, the rain, and the mud on the field but we found a way to get the big win and qualify for the play-offs again and it feels good, " said a drenched ICC head coach Mike Sullivan moments after the victory.
The Red and Blue have seen injuries take a serious toll on the team lately but some of the younger players have stepped up and answered the bell. In today's match Itawamba was missing three starters, but still got the job done. Meghan Brown and Lauren Nichols both had two goals a piece to lead the Lady Indians to victory.
Meghan Brown also assisted on a goal as well as did Shelby Brown.
"Our sophomore all-state goalkeeper Meagan Nichols was outstanding in the goal as the conditions for a keeper were terrible and very difficult," added Sullivan. "Right now, we still have an outside shot at hosting the play-offs but we will need to beat East MS next Friday and then beat Hinds by a big margin down the road. I am telling the ladies to take it one day at a time and just keep playing hard and sometimes good things happen."
With the win, the Lady Indians move to 6 - 5 - 1 overall and 3 - 1 - 0 in the North division and will next play on Wednesday against Union University at 2:00.
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[] Lady Indians fall twice at Meridian Tournament (10/4/2009)
It was a tough tournament in Meridian for the Lady Indians as they dropped two games and suffered some injuries to key players over the weekend.
On Saturday, the Red and Blue dropped a close match to Emory College 2 - 1. Emory got on the board first at the 20th minute mark but the Lady Indians would answer back at the 32nd minute when Lorrie Phillips would score off a Lauren Nichols assist.
Unfortunately moments after the goal, Phillips would go down with a knee injury and have to leave the game and did not return. The Lady Indians also lost Joscelyn Dexter to an injury during the match as well.
The halftime score would stand at 1 - 1 but early in the 2nd half Emory would score the game winner off a nicely placed free kick.
"All things considered, we played well and fought hard but missing three starters for this kind of match was tough," said Lady Indians head coach Mike Sullivan.
Sunday afternoon, Itawamba would face off against the #2 team in the country, Polk State, and would lose 6 - 0. The Lady Indians fought valiantly, but in the end were overwhelmed by a very talented Polk team.
The Lady Indians now stand at 5 - 5 - 1 overall and 2 - 1 - 0 in the north division and will next host Northwest on Friday at 2:00.
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[] ICC wins a thriller against Gulf Coast (9/30/2009)
In a potential playoff match-up down the road, the Lady Indians avenged an earlier defeat as they beat Gulf Coast, 2 - 1.
"Today we finally put everything together and played a really good match against a really good team," said a proud ICC head coach Mike Sullivan after the game. "The only thing that went wrong today was that sophomore Rhea McCord got hurt and we are not sure of her status for the next few matches. But you know what, that made our play today even better when you factor in one of your best players sitting for the majority of the match."
The Red and Blue opened the scoring at the 15 minute mark when Anna McCoy scored a breakaway goal off a long pass from Rhea McCord.
"Anna has been playing really well lately and has been scoring some really nice goals," added Sullivan.
The rest of the half would see no more goals scored but ICC held the majority of possession while creating a few chances but just could not put a goal in the net. Gulf Coast would come out of the halftime fired up and one minute into the 2nd half when Lady Indian all-state goalkeeper Meagan Nichols came out to make a save she lost control of the ball and then was stepped on and as she laid on the field, Gulf Coast was able to sneak a goal into the Lady Indians net.
"That goal was so disappointing because we had been playing so well and to give a junky goal like that was disheartening, but the women fought back quickly to regain the lead and did not let it get them down," said the third year Lady Indians head coach.
At the 52 minute mark, ICC would take the lead for good when Meghan Brown took a pass from Shelby Brown and score a very nice goal from the right wing. The rest of the half was back and forth and at the end of the match Meagan Nichols came up with a big save with 25 seconds left to preserve the victory.
With the win the Lady Indians move to 5 &45; 3 &45; 1 overall and still stand at 2 &45; 1 &45; 0 in the north division. Itawamba will next travel to Meridian for the Rush Tournament where it will face Emory CC on Saturday at 5:00 and then #2 ranked Polk State CC on Sunday at 10:00am.
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[] ICC wins north division duel against EMCC (9/28/2009)
The Lady Indians finally played a home game and while the field was extremely wet, muddy and very difficult to play on, the Red and Blue overcame that, and won 4 - 0 over East Mississippi to put a stranglehold on 2nd place in the North division.
"We dominated this game from start to finish and while we had trouble finishing, it was nice to see us play good possesion soccer and create so many chances," said Lady Indians third year head coach Mike Sullivan.
Itawamba got on the scoreboard in the 7th minute when Meghan Brown put back an errant pass to give the Indians the 1 - 0 lead and then towards the end of the half, Brown would score again off a pass from Rhea McCord, who would have two assists on the day, to give the Indians the 2 - 0 lead at the half.
The second half would see Anna McCoy and Lauren Nichols score to give the home team the 4 - 0 victory. With the win the Lady Indians move to 4 - 3 - 1 overall and 2 - 1 - 0 in the north division. ICC will next be action on Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 when they host Gulf Coast in a rematch of an earlier game that was won in overtime by the Lady Bulldogs.
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[] Lady Indians lose first place showdown at Hinds (9/25/2009)
The Lady Indians traveled to Hinds for a first place battle and came home with a very dissapointing 4 - 1 loss to the Lady Eagles.
"They came to play and we just really didnt show up to give them a game," said ICC head coach Mike Sullivan. "The weather has been killing us with not getting on the field, but I don't want to give an excuse because we just got whipped out there."
Sullivan added, "we will be ready when they come here, I assure you and we will play better next chance we get to face them."
Hinds took the early lead on an extremely controversial referee decision on how to put the ball back into play in the second minute. The Lady Indians would answer back when Anna McCoy followed up a shot by Rhea McCord.
The Lady Eagles would find the net two more times in the half and go to halftime with a 3 - 1 lead. Hinds would score late in second half to make the final 4 - 1 and snap Itawamba's three-game winning streak.
With the loss, the Red and Blue move to 3 - 3 - 1 overall and 1 - 1 - 0 in the north division. ICC will next be in action on Monday against East MS at 2:00.
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[] ICC soccer washed out again (9/23/2009)
For the third time in less than a week, Itawamba Community College's soccer programs have seen their matches postponed due to unplayable conditions. This time, it's this afternoon's doubleheader against East Mississippi on the Fulton campus.
"This is getting old and we're now having to cancel our non-conference games to make sure we get our division games in," said ICC head coach Mike Sullivan. "But we have no choice with all the rain we've had lately even with our wonderful facility, it's just not safe out there to play a game."
Sullivan added today's double dip will now be made up on Monday afternoon in Fulton beginning at 2 with the ladies game with the men to follow at 4. Unfortunately, ICC's regularly scheduled match on Monday against East Central in Fulton has been cancelled to accommodate today's (Wednesday) postponement.
ICC will next face Hinds Community College Friday in Raymond in a pair of first place showdowns beginning at 5 p.m. with the women's matchup. The Lady Indians have won three in a row and are averaging 11 goals a game in those matches, while the Indians have been victorious in four straight games and will take a 5-1 mark to the capital city area.
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[] ICC reschedules recent rainout (9/22/2009)
Itawamba Community College head soccer coach Mike Sullivan has announced the rescheduling of last Friday's washout against Meridian Community College. The new date of the matchup between two of the state's top community college soccer programs will now be Sunday, October 18, at the ICC soccer field.
The women's game is set for noon with the men to follow at 2 p.m. The Indians doubleheader that was also postponed last Saturday against Pearl River Community College will not be made up. The hosting of Gulf Coast on September 30, which was originally scheduled for a women's only match has now added a men's game. The women will be play at 2 p.m. with the men to follow at 4 p.m.
ICC entertains East Mississippi tomorrow afternoon at 2 and 4. It's only the second home match of the year for the Lady Indians, who have won three straight and are averaging 11 goals a game in that streak and for the Indians, who have won four in a row and are in first place in the north (2-0) and 5-1 overall.
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[] ICC soccer postpones a pair of doubleheaders (9/18/2009)
Itawamba Community College's red-hot soccer programs finally found someone that could slow down its teams. Mother Nature. ICC head coach Mike Sullivan was forced to postpone this afternoon's doubleheader against Meridian and also tomorrow's two games against Pearl River Community College.
"We really didn't want to do this but the field is just about unplayable and if more weather does come today, it would be even worse," said Sullivan, whose two teams at Itawamba have played just one home game each so far this season.
No reschedule dates have been determined, as of yet. The Indians are tied for first in the north with a 2-0 mark, 5-1 overall, while the Lady Indians have won three straight, including their division opener at Northwest on Tuesday, and are 3-2-1 on the young campaign.
ICC's next games will be on Wednesday afternoon against East Mississippi in Fulton. The women will play at 2 p.m., while the men will follow at 4 p.m.
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[] Lady Indians explode for the third straight game (9/15/2009)
The Lady Indians opened division play today in Senatobia and smashed Northwest by a final score of 9 - 1.
"We came out today and really had everything to click," said ICC head coach Mike Sullivan. "Meghan Brown came back from her injury today, which was a good shot of energy for the team, and honestly everyone played well today."
The Red and Blue got on the scoreboard at the three minute mark when Anna McCoy would score off a Meghan Brown assist and the Lady Indians never looked back as they totally dominated the game and would go on to a 8 - 0 halftime lead.
The second half saw all the Lady Indian reserve players get action in the game. Leading the way offensively was Lauren Nichols, two goals and four assists, and Meghan Brown had three goals and one assist. Other players scoring goals for the Lady Indians were Madison Raines with two and Lorrie Phillips with one and other players assisting on goals were Rhea McCord with three assists and Madison Raines with one.
"Offensively, we have been putting some big numbers on the board in the last few matches but we will certainly have our hands full this weekend with Meridian and Pearl River coming to town," added Sullivan.
"It's always great to win your division opener and this was a nice road win and especially to get the maximum points from the game. East Mississippi is a much improved team this year and we know that Hinds is always the team to beat, so we have a long way to go. But it is definitely a good start."
With the win, the Lady Indians also move to 3 - 2 - 1 overall and will next host Meridian CC, who are the defending Region 23 champions, on Friday at 2:00 p.m. and then host Pearl River at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, in what should be a fantastic weekend of soccer.
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[] Lady Indians capture second straight victory (9/9/2009)
For the second game in a row, the Lady Indians crushed their opponent as they get ready to open division play in a week. The Lady Indians scored early and often as they went on to dominate the game against East Central and left with a 10 - 1 victory.
"These kinds of wins are nice and I think we are getting our confidence back after the defeat at Jones," said ICC head coach Mike Sullivan on the bus ride home from Decatur. "We are looking forward to opening the division schedule next week."
The Red and Blue opened the scoring at the 10 minute mark and never looked back. Leading the way today was freshman Anna McCoy, who had her first collegiate hat-trick.
"I feel like Anna is really getting going now and when we can get Meghan Brown back from injury we should really have something up top for us this year," added Sullivan.
Other goal scorers today were Lorrie Phillips and Kayla Kilgore with two each, Shelby Brown, Katelynn Davis, and Lauren Nichols each added a tally. Leading the way assisting on goals was Lauren Nichols with three. She is currently leading the team with four goals and four assists on the season.
Other players credited with assists were Jordan Dunnam, Brown, Davis, Phillips, Chelsea Plunk, and Meagan Nichols all having one assist in the match.
With the win the Lady Indians move to 2 - 2 - 1 on the season and will open division play on the road against Northwest CC on Tuesday at 4:00.
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[] ICC opens home slate with record breaking day (9/4/2009)
The Lady Indians played their first home match of the year against Marion Military Institute and came away with their first victory of the year by a score of 13 - 1.
The Red and Blue were in control from start to finish and dominated every aspect of play. The 13 goals is a new school record and the nine assists in the game is the second highest total ever. ICC scored around the nine minute mark and never looked back taking a 9 - 1 halftime lead.
Leading the scoring today was Lauren Nichols with three goals, which was her 2nd career hat-trick, and one assist. Rounding out the scoring was Lorrie Phillips, Madison Raines, Meagan Nichols, and Shelby Brown all with two goals each and then Rhea McCord and Ashley Symes each with one goal.
Players getting assists in today's match were Rhea McCord with three, Lorrie Phillips with two, and all the following players had one assist; Anna McCoy, Aleigha Bondurant, and Chelsea Plunk.
With the victory, the Lady Indians move to 1 - 2 - 1 overall and will next play on the road at East Central at 2:00 next Wednesday.
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