One of the top girls soccer teams in the US is going for a ‘three-peat’ on the Coast

The Mississippi Gulf Coast is home to one of the more successful and dominant girls soccer programs in the country.

The Gulfport Admirals are riding back-to-back state championships and have peaked at No. 1 on MaxPreps.com’s national rankings this season.

Head coach Christopher Pryor has been at the helm for two decades and has guided GHS to three state titles in that time. The first of which, in 2008, represented the first girls soccer title any public school on the Coast had won.

Pryor took over a program that was still in its infancy and built it up until it was competing with the best teams in the state.

The Gulfport graduate and William Carey product told the Sun Herald the building blocks of his team’s success hasn’t just been about finding great athletes.

“It starts with building a culture within the program,” Pryor said. “It starts with dedication. The girls buying in. Understanding it’s not just about kicking a ball. It’s more preparation, teamwork. I really have pushed the family element at Gulfport high school.

“It’s not just about soccer. It’s about the camaraderie, it’s about knowing each other. It’s about depending on one another.”

On and off the field relationships have played a big role in the growth of the Lady Admiral soccer program but so has the competition Pryor’s team has faced over the years.

In order to get where it is today, GHS has gone out of its way to expand its competitive range under Pryor’s tutelage.

“Early on I understood that just playing the teams on the Coast wasn’t going to be good enough,” Pryor said. “We got permission in the early 2000s to go on overnight trips to play the stronger teams in Jackson, then play the teams in Louisiana and to play teams in Florida so our players can see there are other levels that we have to be prepared for. I feel like over the years it has started to make a difference.”

That chemistry and competitive preparation has led to a 13-0-1 record this year and a staggering 55-1-7 record over the last three seasons. The only game the Admirals have not won during the current campaign was a 1-1 draw against also-nationally-ranked Ocean Springs.

Pryor’s team has won out-of-state games this season against Gulf Breeze in Florida and St. Mary’s Dominican in New Orleans.

The 2021-22 edition of the Admirals has been an elite attacking team having run up 63 goals in just 13 matches this season.

The offense is led by a pair of athletes in Kate Smith and Abigail Badurak who are committed to in-state division I universities. The two are responsible for 38 goals so far this year and have terrorized the Coast with 143 combined goals in three years together.

Smith is the reigning Gatorade Player of the Year and is heading to Ole Miss to further her career as a Rebel next year. Badurak has committed to play at the next level at Southern Mississippi.

Badurak is a junior that has played a key role on a deep team for much of her career and began building a relationship with her teammates well before high school.

“Most of us have been playing together since we were 8 years old,” Badurak said. “It’s never really hard to not be selfish and work hard for each other. This season is especially big for us because we have a lot of seniors on our team that we’re all very close with. We want to do very well this season for them.”

The junior is planning to be the next in a line of coastal players to suit up in the Black and Gold in Hattiesburg, joining current rostered Golden Eagles Lauren Bennett from Long Beach and Ryan Smith from Biloxi.

“I love Southern Miss,” Badurak said. “When I committed there it wasn’t just a soccer thing. The school, as well, is just great. I got to take a tour of it, it’s a very pretty school.”

Smith is one of the established seniors that has been integral to the Admirals’ recent state championship seasons. She was one of four players who missed a recent match, with the full support of Pryor, to play in a pair of Elite Clubs National League games over the weekend.

In a show of depth, GHS won that contest against Harrison Central, 7-0.

Smith says the support she gets from Pryor and the experience she gains playing high-level club soccer has helped create the player she is now.

“Coach Pryor has been such a big help, always letting me go and do whatever I need to help my career,” Smith said. “Being able to go and do this has helped me grow. Being in a different environment, obviously the level is higher. I’m constantly challenging myself to grow and become a better player and a quicker player.”

According to Smith, every player in the starting lineup is playing club soccer. The result is a team that has done the extra work and is ready to show it off at home.

“Whenever we come back to high school it helps a lot because at that point we’re all playing faster,” Smith said. “We come back a lot better and take what we learned from the higher-level games and apply them to our teams.”

Pryor says his players working on their own and taking advantage of extra opportunities has been imperative to GHS soccer excelling.

The rise of the Admiral soccer program has had an unmistakable impact on the Coast. Since GHS’ first championship in 2008, other schools in the area have responded in kind with a stronger effort to keep pace.

“I feel like Gulfport was able to be a big part of changing the paradigm across the state as far as, hey, other places other than Jackson can play this game well,” Pryor said. “I think having quality teams on the Coast makes the parity a little bit better. Ocean Springs has won two titles. They’ve become a steady force, as far as soccer is concerned.

“Biloxi has won South State twice, they’ve been to a state championship. So it’s not just Gulfport. When you have competition around you that’s only making you stronger it forces programs to up the ante.”

Pryor and the Admirals are quick to show their respect for their opponents despite some of the lopsided results that come with a GHS soccer match.

Even so, the squad has not lost sight of the end goal. While Smith hopes to improve on her individual numbers this season, she’s also focused on chasing history.

“We’re definitely going for the three-peat,” Smith said. “That’s a big goal for us.”