They avenged themselves last season and brought home the state championship; head coach Sean McBride aims to do it again with some fresh and familiar faces. 

McBride coached the Patriots girl’s soccer team to a 4-0 routing of Northridge High School last May, awarding them their first championship since his wife, Mindy McBride, won in 2019. 

Now, despite graduating a host of core seniors, McBride still believes they are poised to go back-to-back. After reaching the championship game the past two seasons, he understands that this level of execution is now the expectation, as do his players. 

Seniors Maddie Massie and Mary Siena McBride are both prepared to live up to the precedent set and to try and bring home another trophy. “It’s always our goal, to win state every year,” Massie said. Moreover, they have reason to believe that it will be less difficult than the years prior. 

During the offseason, both boy’s and girl’s teams had their areas reclassified to now hold Parker, Minor, and Jackson Olin, who, at least in years past, have not been particularly competitive. 

“I think [winning another championship] is feasible this year, just because our area is a lot easier,” M. McBride explained.

It has been common knowledge to McBride that his program is championship or bust, and his approach to it is a lot simpler than you might expect. 

He underscored that his key is just ensuring “everyone is on the same page when it comes to practice when it comes to games.” 

Despite having nothing short of a loaded roster talent-wise, the thing McBride said he appreciated the most is that “everybody has the same expectations that the team comes first, rather than the individual.”

He further attributed that sentiment to their relationships.

“With this group of girls, that’s not a problem because they are such good friends on and off the field, so that makes it easy for me.”

Unfortunately, there is no “magic wand or anything” McBride can wave at practice to have the Patriots compete at an elite level.

Instead, because of how strong the team-first mentality is, he elects to focus on more individual-based improvement, looking specifically at “how they played in the previous game, and what they need to work on.” 

Thus, he believes it is vastly more beneficial to improve the individual and watch the effect unfold, a method loved by his players. 

“It’s a really big balance between having fun and working really hard,” Massie conveyed, “It makes you just want to do it every day.”

While nonetheless having what McBride dubbed “a ton of talent,” he is thankful that the difference in ability is not a real problem, “with these girls, they just seem to gel quickly.”  

But at the end of the day, McBride said “it’s up to the younger players” who have taken the leap up to varsity this year “to step up.”

“There’s a big difference between playing on JV and playing on Varsity,” he further explained, “but this is what they trained for, this is what they wanted.”

And, if they don’t, McBride has assured all his players “there’s always someone right there to take their spot.”

The biggest turnover facing McBride this season is his defense. During the ‘22 season, the girls held their opponents scoreless 16 out of their 25 matches during the championship run, including 15 of those wins coming by a 3+ goal differential. 

Homewood graduated everyone from last season’s backline, save for Longwood University commit, senior Sunny Ferren, and while they may not be able to replicate the stifling defense from last year, McBride does not seem to mind. 

“We know we’ll give up more goals than we did last year,” McBride said, “but with our players, we can always outscore the other team. I don’t care if we win a game 2-1 or 6-5, it’s still a W at the end of the day.”

On the other hand, Ferren is somewhat enthusiastic about the chance it presents, “This is a really big opportunity for people to step up,” she noted, “and for people to try new places they have not played before.” 

She went on to identify the biggest challenge facing her defense in the season: cohesiveness.  “Me, Lily (Lowery), Mary Ellen (Petrella), and Caroline (Crimi) had played together for years, so we really knew each other’s playing style,” she explained. “Since it is basically a whole new team out there, we really have to learn how we all play.”

A massive part of that defense was also the biggest question mark facing Homewood entering the season: their goalie. 

After Katie Crim, last year’s star keeper graduated to play at Oglethorpe University, the Patriots were left with no backup and almost nowhere to turn.

And then, almost out of the blue, their prayers were answered, in the form of junior Kayla Warren. Warren, who is currently leading the varsity basketball team to one of their best seasons in school history, is about as athletic as they come. Check out more of her story here: https://thehomewoodtricorne.com/1801/students/warren-authentic-representation-of-homewood/

Warren showed up upon invitation one day to tryouts and won everyone over, coaches and players alike. They all praise her enthusiasm and willingness to learn and adapt and look forward to watching her prosper and grow as they shoot for another ring. 

Ferren, who is as excited as anyone for Warren, understands how important her own role is when it comes to the new keeper.

“It’s important for our back line to help her as well,” she said, “we have to know when we can play back, and when we can trust her [to play up]. Once she learns the game itself, which is the simplest part of it all, she’s going to be a beast.” 

Now, heading into this season, the reigning champions are well aware of the target on their backs, and they welcome it with open arms. 

McBride and Massie call it “fuel to the fire,” which acts as a constant reminder letting them know that “we need to get better.” 

“Everyone wants to say ‘Oh, we beat Homewood,’ like, we are people’s biggest rivals,” Ferren added, “but that’s mainly what makes high school soccer so fun.”

“I think when you coach soccer at Homewood you always have a target on your back, and I think with how the girls did last year when you win the state and you’re ranked #1 in the nation for a long time…” McBride said, “that should be an inspiration to both your team and your opponent, they want to be the ones to knock you off the top spot.” 

Ultimately, “that just means you have to play your best at all times.”

Interestingly enough, the girls are also playing with somewhat of a chip on their shoulders. Other schools know that, while Homewood will be good, there’s a belief that it is almost little to no chance that the Patriots can go back to back, just because of how difficult that is, especially at the high school level.

“I don’t think anyone thinks that we can win a championship again,” Massie conveyed, “it’s just more fuel to prove them wrong.”

And with that, McBride will attempt to lead his girls deep into May once more, starting at home against Minor High School, Tuesday, Feb. 7.