Pam Pack girls’ soccer coach wins 2014 WDN Coach-of-the-Year

It was Feb. 20 and the Pam Pack girls’ soccer team had just 10 players at practice – a core group of senior leaders, a handful of first-year high school players and one scrappy freshman.

The Washington girls’ basketball team had sneaked into the playoffs on a coin flip, leaving head coach Ed Rodriguez without one of his senior captains, a central defender and a reserve striker – a cheerleader – until the season’s conclusion. Unable to field a full team, Rodriguez was forced to cancel the opening match against Coney and was fearful more cancellations would follow.

“We went on a recruiting drive – some of the girls did mainly – I did ask some of the players who played last year, but they didn’t want to play. I told them just get me someone we can put in a uniform, just so we have some subs. And that’s what we did. We got three more players once basketball ended, had two more practices, then we played the first game.”

“We were going down the hallways talking to people who we heard might have played soccer before,” said senior forward Christian Heggie. “It was difficult in the beginning because everyone was frustrated from that.”

The Pam Pack basketball team was eliminated on Feb. 24, giving Rodriguez three days before his second scheduled match with J.H. Rose to finalize his roster and organize his team. After a successful recruiting venture from some of his core players, he had enough players for a team, even though he had just a handful of substitutes – most of whom had never played soccer before – while other Eastern Plains Conference teams had a wholesome number of reserves.

In a defensive battle, Washington dropped the season opener to Rose, 1-0. The midfield was scattered and forwards unproductive. After defeating Camden County and losing to D.H. Conley, Rodriguez knew he needed to make a change.

He dropped his reliable senior midfielder, Katie Tate, back on defense, bringing up the speedy freshman Sydney Edwards to the midfield. It was a minor move, but one that would come to represent and define the rest of the Pam Pack’s season.

“We beat a decent Edenton team 5-1. We could have done better, but that was the beginning of the run,” Rodriguez said. “We never looked back. That was the most important change of the season.”

As their roles became more defined, the team’s confidence grew. In their inaugural season in the Eastern Plains Conference, the Pam Pack went on to activate the mercy rule in every single conference game, all without a single shot finding the back of keeper Emily Alligood’s net.

Soon, through rigorous conditioning and technical practice sessions, those last-minute players were transforming into valuable assets.

“People who had never played soccer before or haven’t played soccer in years, we saw them come out here and contribute. It was incredible,” Heggie said. “People came out and couldn’t even kick a ball and by April, were helping us on give-and-go’s, assisting goals and even scoring themselves.”

With a 17-2 record, Rodriguez’s team finished the regular season as the No. 1 team in Class 2-A, earning home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Washington breezed through the first three playoffs games, activating the mercy rule in each, but met what some people referred to as North Carolina’s most talented and physical team, Carrboro, in the quarterfinals.

In a match that left every player battered and bruised, the Pack locked up a hard-earned 1-0 victory and a match up against Croatan in the semi-final game, but the win came at a costly price. Heggie, the state’s leading scorer with 55 goals, went down with an ACL injury, ending her season. Rodriguez, however, did not panic.

“Not having Christian kind of gave me a very narrow focus of what needed to get done. We needed to defend and counter attack,” Rodriguez said. “We could move the ball, but Christian’s ability to hold the ball and give time for other people to move was not there. Isabella (Mayo) did a great job with her role, but she’s only a sophomore. You can’t expect a sophomore to carry the team.”

In the next game, Washington was out-shot, out-possessed and even played a man down over the final 10 minutes due to a red card; yet, the Pack persevered and pulled off a miraculous 1-0 win. However, once again, the victory came at a cost. Mayo went down with a knee injury, as Rodriguez would be without two of his four primary goal scorers for the championship game in Raleigh.

The Pack eventually came up short in the final game, likely due to the exhaustion that coincided with a severely limited bench. Nonetheless, Rodriguez and Washington became the first girls’ soccer team in school history to take home the state championship runner-up medal.

With Heggie, Alana Jefferson, Rebecca Omonde, Harley Hudson graduating, as well as Mayo leaving the program to pursue hockey in Massachusetts, Rodriguez will have to find a way to replace over 130 goals.

“We’ll find a way to score goals,” Rodriguez said. “We did when Beth (Batchelor) left, who was the main source of scoring for four years. When the leading scorer in Washington history left that season, we actually had our best season scoring after that. It’s not because she left, but because we found a way to do it … and we’ll find a way again.”