In the News...
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[] ICC honored nationally for work in the classroom (6/20/2009)
The Itawamba Community College women's soccer team has been listed as one of the NJCAA Academic Teams of the Year. The governing body of the nation's community and junior college athletics listed the top 26 teams and Itawamba was third on the list with a team GPA of 3.34.
"I'm so proud of our ladies," said head coach Mike Sullivan, who will welcome his 2009 ICC women's and men's teams back to campus on August 3. "You know what, we finished third in the state on the field, which is really good, but I'm more excited about how our squad took care of business in the classroom."
ICC athletic director Carrie Ball-Williamson was also excited when she was notified by the national office and added the Lady Indians were recently recognized in the monthly edition of the NJCAA publication, "The Review."
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[] ICC women's soccer signs two more (6/8/2009)
Itawamba Community College head soccer coach Mike Sullivan added two more signees to his Lady Indians roster for this upcoming season. Midfielder Rebekah Rainey played high school soccer at Tupelo High School, while defender Katelynn Davis is from Cordova, Tenn. and played at Houston High School.
"Sometimes you never know who might be in school already and can really play soccer," said Sullivan on the signing of current ICC student, Rainey, who is majoring in pre-law. "Rebekah did not play high school this past year and although she has been out of the game for a little bit, she was very impressive at tryouts and I think with some time back on the ball, she will be a tremendous asset to this team next season."
Sullivan, who hosted nearly 170 campers last week at his ICC summer soccer camp, is projecting Rainey, who not only played at THS but also the Mississippi Fire in select soccer, in the midfield or up top for next season. The Lady Indians head coach added Davis will play left back for the Red and Blue this fall.
"I'm expecting big things out of Katelynn the next two years. She will add to a tenacious defense already in place and she will also add some offense from the back. We will look for her to stop opposing strikers as well as get involved in the attack this next season."
Davis also played for the Lady Lobos 92 club team.
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[] Lady Indians wrap up spring session (4/8/2009)
Itawamba Community College women's soccer program, which finished third in the state at the end of the fall season, recently completed its spring workouts for 2009.
"Unfortunately, we had a very wet season, and we were forced inside more than we were outside this spring," said head coach Mike Sullivan. "But the ladies did their conditioning and weight lifting along with some field and indoor training."
The Lady Indians placed second this spring in their only tournament, which was hosted by Meridian Community College. ICC won three games and lost one, which according to Sullivan, "was a well played game" that ended in a 1-0 loss to the state champions, Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The Lady Indians also hosted Meridian, the reigning 23 champions, but lost in the effort.
"All in all, I thought we had a good spring as we hopefully laid the foundation for an even more successful season in the fall than we had this year," Sullivan said. "Our eyes are firmly set on the prize of fall '09 as we're going to work as hard as we can to bring the state championship home next year. We have a great class coming back as well as a wonderful recruiting class signed, so we have extremely high expectations for next year."
The Lady Indians will report to campus, August 3, to begin their fall season.
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[] Itawamba soccer inks trio from Saltillo (3/14/2009)
Itawamba Community College has signed a trio of soccer standouts from Saltillo High School. Amanda Harkins (5'7, midfielder) and Chelsea Plunk (5'2 striker) both played for Lady Tigers head coach Gary Cherry, who according to ICC head coach Mike Sullivan, has one of the biggest up and coming high school soccer programs in the area.
Harkins scored two goals and had 15 assists this past season while Plunk scored eight goals and assisted on 10 others.
"Amanda is a very strong and physical player, which will serve her well in our league," said Sullivan, who also coaches the men's program at Itawamba. "We are looking for her to give us minutes in the midfield or at defender this season, while Chelsea is very fast and plays extremely hard. I really enjoy seeing her play and hope she will be as exciting for us this year as she tries to win time up top for us."
The Indians signee was Cody Garrison, who is a 6'1, 170 defender, who also played for coach Gary Cherry. Sullivan is looking for Garrison to help out his defense, which was hit hard by graduation.
"Cody also plays extremely hard and is very intelligent with the ball as well," said Sullivan, whose sophomores of this past season set school records for wins in a two-year career with 22 and best overall record in a two year span, 22-12-0. "Cody will join a unit that was ranked fifth in the entire state last year in defense."
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[] ICC soccer signs five from Pontotoc (3/13/2009)
Itawamba Community College's soccer programs have signed five from Pontotoc High School. ICC head coach Mike Sullivan signed three from head coach Marty Pettit's Warriors team and two from his Lady Warriors squad.
Taylor Posey is a 5'6, 150 pound midfielder, who is actually from Tupelo and played for the Golden Wave before transferring before his senior season to PHS where he scored 26 goals this past season. Tyler Moore (5'11,170) caught Sullivan's eye with his fierce competitiveness along with his skills and speed from the defender position. Collin Burchfield is a 5'9, 140 pound midfielder and Sullivan has been keeping up with him along with Posey and Moore for the last couple of years.
"I knew getting these three to join us would make us better," said Sullivan, who will begin his eighth year as the head coach of the Indians and third in charge of the women's programs at Itawamba this fall. "Taylor actually told me a couple years that he wanted to be a part of our ICC program and he's impressive with the ball at his feet and has the kind of work ethic I look for in players. Tyler is someone that can't stand to lose and will do whatever it takes to win. We'll be looking for him to play a central defender role for us next season. Collin is very crafty with the ball as well as very quick himself and we'll look for him to help us either up top or in the midfield next fall."
The two Lady Indian signees are Lorrie Phillips (5'4 striker), who scored more than 50 goals in her career at Pontotoc and Kayla Parker (5'7 defender), who was a part of a Lady Warrior defense that went through its division play allowing only two goals.
"Lorrie has been a tremendous goal scorer over her career and will be looked to do the same with us next year as she fights for minutes up top next season," said Sullivan, whose two Lady Indian squads have completely re-written the ICC record books on the way to a school best 18-11-5 mark over a two-year stretch. "We're also excited to sign Kayla and I believe she will compete for a spot immediately in the back for us this next season."
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[] ICC soccer signs four from Tupelo (3/8/2009)
Itawamba Community College's soccer programs have signed four from Tupelo High School. Junior Garcia and Trace Nabors both played for Mark Enis' program, while Madison Raines and Anna McCoy were standouts on Shelly Miller's Lady Wave program.
Garcia, who is a 6'1, 175 midfielder and Nabors, who is a 5'10, 165 goalkeeper, are both expected to play right away for head coach Mike Sullivan's Indians.
"Junior is extremely talented on the ball and will be someone that we will be looking to run our attack," said Sullivan, who also coaches the Lady Indians program at Itawamba. "We lost both of our central midfielder so signing a player with his experience will be very beneficial to next year's team."
Sullivan added Nabors will come in and compete with his returning goalkeeper (Tres Wortham) for minutes next season.
"Trace has been a major factor in Tupelo's success over the last couple of years and he's rock solid in the goal. We will be in the best situation at keeper as any team around next year with these two tremendous keepers."
Raines is a 5'8 striker/midfielder, who scored 12 goals and had 11 assists in her high school career, while McCoy is a 5'2 striker, who had four goals and two assists this past season.
"It's always nice to get players from the best high school team in your area and one of the best every year in the state," said Sullivan, who in his two years at the helm of the Lady Indians, has guided the program to its best back to back years in school history (18-11-5).
"Madison has always seemed to be in the right place at the right time and scores when she has the chance. Anna might be small but don't let that fool you. She is quick and plays very hard and will look for time in the midfield or up top for us next season."
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[] Lady Indians sign soccer trio from New Albany (3/6/2009)
Itawamba Community College head women's soccer coach Mike Sullivan announced the signing of a trio from New Albany High School. Jordan Dunnam is a 5'6 defender while Shelby Brown is a 5'7 midfielder (13 goals and nine assists last year) and Paige Zahller is a 5'6 goalkeeper, who all played for Lady Bulldogs head coach Les Huntington.
"Jordan will be trying to earn playing time in the back for us next season after we lost three standouts from our backline," said Sullivan, who has guided the Lady Indians to the College's first ever north division title in soccer back in 2007. "Shelby will look to win playing time in the midfield as we have a very good core of sophomores coming back in the midfield but with Shelby's talent, I definitely see her competing for time."
According to Sullivan, Zahller will come in and back All-state selection Meagan Nichols of Tupelo in the goal. "I have seen her do some great things for her team this past season and with hard work on the training field for us, I see her becoming an even better goalkeeper and put us in a great position t have two very quality keepers going into next year."
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[] ICC soccer excels in the classroom (2/8/2009)
The Itawamba Community College women's soccer team not only enjoyed plenty of success on the field but finished the fall semester with a 3.26 G.P.A. in the classroom.
"This is well above and beyond our goal of 3.00 that we set in August and something these young women are very proud of," said Lady Indians head coach Mike Sullivan. " We have been nominated for the NJCAA Academic Team of the Year, which is the second straight time we've been nominated for this award."
Sullivan added this is a great honor whether his squad wins the award or not. ICC had two ladies make a 4.00 for the semester, Kathleen Wathen (Amory) and Katelynn Barefoot (Tupelo), and well over half the team made a 3.00 or better.
"Being a student-athlete is a tough job," said Sullivan, who led his squad to a second straight appearance in the state playoffs after a 9-5-4 record in the fall. "The hours are very demanding when you have to balance your schoolwork with the team requirements, but these young ladies have shown that they're hard workers and I am very proud of the achievements in the classroom as well as what we did on the field."
The Lady Indians will also have two players named NJCAA Academic All-Americans this year, when the official announcement is released in the spring. Morgan Sullivan (Tupelo) will be named NJCAA Academic All-American as she finished with a 3.63 GPA and Wathen will be named NJCAA Distinguished Academic All-American as she finished with a 4.00 GPA. Both players have transferred to Mississippi State University to continue their academic careers this semester.
The Itawamba men's soccer team didn't quite reach its goal of 3.00 and finished the fall semester with a GPA of 2.87.
"I am still very proud of the guys for their work in the classroom this semester," added Sullivan, who is also the men's coach at ICC. " It is definitely hard work to be a student athlete with all the demands on their time that they face but the guys did a solid job this semester."
Half of the men's team made 3.21 or better this past semester and Sullivan said, "They're looking to have an ever better semester in the classroom this spring and hopefully get to our goal of 3.00 for the year."
The Indians will have at least one player make NJCAA Academic All-American and expect to have another named for that award as well, when it is officially released in the next month. Clay Ormon of New Albany High School will be named NJCAA Academic All-American as he finished with a 3.69 GPA in his time at ICC; he is now attending Freed Hardeman University this spring. Tyler Smith of Corinth should also be named for this honor, as well, as he is currently maintaining a 3.87 GPA.
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[] ICC soccer hands out awards at annual banquet (2/1/2009)
Itawamba Community College officially wrapped up its soccer seasons with its annual awards evening in the banquet rooms of the Student Services building on the Fulton campus. Head Coach Mike Sullivan along with assistant coach Tommy Pharr handed out eight different awards for each of the two programs.
Amory's Kathleen Wathen, who left the Lady Indians by owning almost every individual record, was the big winner at the banquet. The state's third leading scorer (20 goals, five assists) was named the team's most outstanding offensive player, shared team captains with Morgan Sullivan of Tupelo, was the recipient of the Indian Award and also picked up the plaque for being named all-Region 23 for the second straight year.
Sullivan received the hustle award and was recognized for making the all-state squad.
Rhea McCord and Meagan Nichols, both of Tupelo, were honored as the co-most valuable players for the Lady Indians, who finished the year scoring the most goals (58) and dishing out the most assists (49) in a season in school history. Both of those freshmen also made the all-state squad. Ashley Symes, also of Tupelo, grabbed the most outstanding defensive player honor along with also making the all-state team.
As for the Indians, sophomore Chase Elliott brought home the most hardware, including the team's most valuable player. In addition, the Tupelo High grad also captured the hustle award, received his all-state plaque and was one of the team captains along with Tyler Smith of Corinth and Clay Orman of New Albany.
Smith also received the Indian Award, while Colt Snell of Tupelo picked up plaques for the most outstanding defensive player award along with making all-state. Clay Carson of Amory, who finished just one point out away from nailing down the state's scoring title was named the most outstanding offensive player after his 13 goals and 13 assists, which also earned him a spot on the all-Region 23 list.
Carson and the rest of the sophomores were also recognized for the class that won the most games over their two year career in school history with 22 (22-12-0), while Sullivan also pointed out the Lady Indians sophomores pulled off the same feat with 18 victories (18-11-5) and they also captured Itawamba's first north division title in women's soccer a year ago.
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