Building blocks key to resurgence of Lady Bucs

When talking about the state of the Hoover High School girls soccer program under fourth-year coach Will Patridge, there are three cornerstones that were there from the beginning and are in the final stretches of their careers as a Buc.

Jordan Henderson, Jilian Joyner and Emily Michell have played on Patridge’s varsity team since they were ninth-graders, when Hoover’s team put together a record of 8-15 in 2014.

Now, in 2017, the Bucs are in the playoffs for the second consecutive season and have aspirations and the belief that they can make some noise in the first few weeks of May.

“They have just seen how we have progressed,” Patridge said of the three seniors. “These girls have seen the whole progression of it. By the time that they’re seniors, they’ve been here; they’ve been in the program; they know my expectations, and they’re able to buy into them and believe them and relay that to the younger group.

Henderson has been a starting striker from the get-go, when she has been healthy. Henderson’s story is one of perseverance, as she has endured a pair of ACL tears in her knee throughout her playing career.

“It’s not a broken ankle or a broken arm, an ACL is a year-long process to come back from,” Patridge said. “Through the first one, she was devastated by it, and she had to make some sacrifices of her own through that, but she came back strong from it.”

The problem for Henderson was that it happened again. Instead of being discouraged and finding another passion, she stuck with the game of soccer and was determined to return stronger than ever.

“She said, ‘You know what, I want to do this. I want to continue to play high school soccer, and I want to wear a captain’s band my senior year,’” Patridge said. “She put in the work in the offseason. My hat’s off to that girl. She’s gone from being a pretty good player, then having two ACL surgeries, to being a great player.”

Joyner has started every game over the course of her career as a forward, and Patridge calls her a “tremendous athlete.” While Joyner is not going to be the outspoken, verbal leader, she absorbs instruction like a sponge, and she uses that to her advantage.

“She just soaks up every bit of information,” Patridge said. “She’ll take everything you say to heart, and she’ll go at everything 110 percent.”

Michell has been on the varsity team since her freshman year, but her role is still evolving, as her hard work over her high school tenure has been met with increased opportunity and production.

“Emily didn’t go into a starter’s role until last year, and even then, she only played 30-35 minutes a game,” Patridge said. “We played her at a couple different positions, but she just puts in the time away from the field and in practice, and she’s become one of our best defenders.”

Even while not starting her first two years, Patridge emphasized Michell’s “good spirit” in allowing her to become a leader.

Hayley Paulmeno and Ana Karen Gonzalez are also seniors for the Bucs. Paulmeno started on the junior varsity squad her first two seasons and has been on the varsity team the latter half of her high school career. 

“Hayley’s just one of those girls that you’re going to go and get a solid defensive effort out of her,” Patridge said. “Most importantly, she brings positive energy to this team. Everybody on the field likes her.”

Gonzalez has moved around in her high school career, spending her freshman year at Oak Mountain and sophomore and junior seasons at Shades Valley. When she arrived at Hoover as a relative unknown to Patridge and his staff, the first few minutes of tryouts were enough for Patridge to pencil her name onto the varsity roster, despite Gonzalez nursing an injury at the time.

“We come out for tryouts, and we’re getting loose, and we’re juggling, and she just rips off 150 juggles without dropping the ball,” Patridge said. “You’ve made the team.”

For Hoover, the scoreboard does not define success. A “certain style of play” does. The Bucs are playing in a different, more offense-oriented system this season, but that has not changed Patridge’s goal: to see his team be able to handle adversity throughout the season and go “from a brick to a diamond.”

“We’re taking what we have, and we’re putting it into a certain style of play,” he said. “We’ll keep chipping away at that. We want to win games; we want to make the playoffs; we want to do all that stuff. But I’ve told them from the beginning, it’s not about the wins and losses.”

Patridge does not believe the Bucs have reached their peak performance just yet, and if he has it his way, that will come just in time for the playoffs. Playing in an area with the likes of defending Class 7A state champion Vestavia Hills is pretty good preparation.

If the Bucs are able to put together a run at the end of the season, there is no doubt that the five seniors on the team, and especially the three that have been around from the start, will play a big part in that.