Gatorade announced recently that Gulfport High midfielder Mary Frances Symmes as the Mississippi girl’s soccer Gatorade Player of the Year.
Symmes was honored after scoring 22 goals in her senior season and assisting on 17 more. She finished her career with 32 goals and 42 assists. Symmes is joining the North Carolina State Wolfpack in the near future
The 5-foot-5 Symmes helped guide Gulfport to a 19-2-2 record and to the Class 6A state championship game. Symmes was ranked as the nation’s No. 61 recruit in the Class of 2023 by PrepSoccer.com.
“Mary Frances is an incredible player. She is extremely versatile, can play anywhere on the field and would be considered the best player at that position regardless of where she was asked to play,” Todd Moniz, head coach of GHS arch-rival the Biloxi High girls, said. “She is technically gifted and tactically astute, but what sets her apart is her relentless mindset and approach to the game.”
Symmes has maintained a 3.88 GPA in the classroom during her time at GHS as well. She was also a member of her school’s Beta, Key and Interact clubs and she volunteered locally at a women’s resource center and has donated her time to community beautification projects as well as the Humane Society of South Mississippi.
It’s the third straight year the award has ended up in Gulfport, as current Ole Miss Rebel Kate Smith won it each of the last two years. In all, four Lady Admirals have won the award including Kelsey Myrick in the 2007-08 school year.
Volleyball All-Stars
The “Southern Six” was well represented in the annual Mississippi Association of Coaches North/South All-Star Game at Millsaps College.
Six standouts that are prepping for the senior seasons in South Mississippi took the court Wednesday night for the South squad at The Hangar Dome in Jackson, lead by a pair of East Central Lady Hornets in Makayla Cooper and Morgan Mears. Also, Resurrection’s Amelia Kate Frederic, Gulfport’s Kailey Johnson, and Abigail Radicia of Biloxi, as well as Ava Alonso of Our Lady Academy were members of the South team.
The North won the match in straight sets 25-19,25-20,25-22.
Eye on the Ball
Well, in this case, the football, that is…
228Sports will start its annual analysis of football schedules for all 24 MHSAA-sanctioned teams in the “Southern Six” for the upcoming season next weeek.
In the next six weeks leading up to the start of the 2023 prep football campaign, we will feature several schools each week and update all of our readers on each team’s head coach and schedules as well as new region alignments and league foes as well as the MHSAA implements a seventh classification.
