Stone High soccer team made history this season. ‘The girls worked really hard for it.’
Stone High had become an unstoppable force by the time the statewide playoffs came around.
The Lady Tomcats turned its defensive prowess into a dominating playoff run that culminated in history.
Stone won its first ever girl’s soccer championship in the 4A title game and it was just the school’s third girls state championship in its history.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” head coach Carissa Harrison told the Sun Herald. “The girls worked really hard for it. It’s well-deserved. We never stopped all season, throughout COVID and everything else we had to endure. They came out everyday and wanted to get better.”
Harrison has been selected as the Sun Herald’s Coach of the Year for her guidance and ability to navigate Stone to grounds untouched before by the program.
Her decision to schedule some of the biggest soccer powers in the state early in the season paid dividends down the stretch.
The Lady Tomcats endured losses to Gulfport, Ocean Springs, Oak Grove and other 6A schools on their way to a 4-5 start to the season.
The challenging slate proved worthwhile as Stone cruised through its region undefeated and then ran through its playoff opponents by a combined score of 14-1.
“It was very testing to our confidence and our patience and our willpower,” Harrison said. “It wasn’t like we were getting blown out of the water... it was like 3-0, 2-0, 1-0 matches. It gave us confidence to say, ‘Hey, you know, we did this against the best teams, technically, in the nation.’
“It helped us in the end to go through district with confidence on our shoulders and go through the whole thing because we didn’t see another Gulfport team or a team like Gulfport. Even in the state final.”
Stone held tight defensively in those games and shined on that front when the matches began to matter. The team gave up just one goal in five district games before allowing only one goal in four playoff contests.
Players like Arnesha Fairley and Torrance Rouchon anchored a stout back line that provided little room for opponents to operate.
That doesn’t mean the Lady Tomcats weren’t dangerous on the other end, either. The attacking prowess of Morgan Pickering and the Batson twins, Caroline and Mary Grace, were enough to overwhelm opponents.
Altogether, Stone had the pieces to put together an unprecedented run toward a championship.
“It makes me strive to be a better coach and makes me confident in what I’m doing so that the kids have confidence in what we’re all doing as a team,” Harrison said. “The community stuck with us, the younger kids stuck with us. There are a lot of younger kids that look up to the girls. It can be done. I think that puts a lot of pep in our step to know that it can be done and we can do it.”
Stone has several senior stars moving on this year, but they’ll always be a part of the history they and Coach Harrison created.
