AMS girls soccer team fields historic season

When you catch the Arlington Middle School Girls’ Soccer team in action, the energy radiating from this young squad is impossible to miss – it’s electric, contagious even. The moves they make are like that of a seasoned team, but it might surprise you just how many of them have never played together. That's right—the team heading to the sectional tournament is made up of players who are new to each other.

 “It’s been incredible to watch,” says Emily Land, the team’s head coach. “You see these 11 to 13-year-old girls and think, ‘Wow, you’re an amazing soccer player.’ It definitely caught a lot of people off guard.”

Land didn’t know what to expect this season – excitement, yes, but she wasn’t expecting the memories from her own time playing to come rushing back. Land is a life-long soccer enthusiast. She played as a child, through high school and even landed a spot playing in college at UT Martin. Her journey, though, took an unexpected turn her sophomore year, when what trainers thought was fatigue in her leg escalated into something much more serious. “I’d be walking to class across campus and my leg would just give out,” she explained. “I couldn’t figure out what was going on.”

article continues below picture (Photo by: Tammy McKinnon Photography)

What she and her team of doctors eventually learned was shocking: a tumor on her distal femur. Her college soccer career as she knew it was over. She came home to Memphis exchanging her soccer cleats and uniform for a hospital gown and grippy socks as a patient at St. Jude. That’s when her relationship with soccer ended. In the years following, she couldn’t bring herself to even watch a game, much less step foot on the field again.

“I was too scared. I always wanted to come up here and watch games,” she said. “I always wanted to kind of sneak around and look. I just couldn't bring myself to feel like I deserved to be out there.”

But fate had a different plan for Land. When the head coach position opened, something told her to jump at the opportunity – she laced up her cleats and stepped back onto the field.. “I was like…this feels like home,” Land smiled. “Like I’m supposed to be out here, and I loved it from the second I started with the girls.” 

Land's return to the field has been more successful than she could have ever imagined. The Lady Tigers finished the regular season with an impressive 9-2 record and made school history by winning Regionals for the first time. Now, as they head to Sectionals, regardless of the outcome, they’ve already cemented themselves as one of the top teams in the division. Land credits their remarkable success to the strong sense of community the players have built. Through the highs of victory and the challenges of setbacks, she’s seen them rally around each other, showing resilience, compassion and unshakeable support. “Getting them to be able to support each other like that without me having to ask was a huge goal this year,” Land said. “We’ve played a heck of a season, and the girls have grown together as a family and a team. I’m really proud of them.” 

article continues below picture (Photo by: Tammy McKinnon Photography)

This tight-knit, family-like atmosphere is due, in part, to what Land fondly calls her 'mini coaches.' Players like Maddi Johnson, Emmie Nunn, Gracie Walker and Mia Resinger have emerged as natural leaders from day one, stepping up to keep the team accountable. Whether it’s running drills during practice or pushing teammates to reach their full potential, they’ve been relentless in guiding the younger players and fostering a sense of collective responsibility for both the team’s strengths and weaknesses. “With 25 girls and one coach and the range of abilities that comes with middle school athletes, all the girls stepped up to do what I expected. I think that’s been an important piece of our success this season. Everybody’s doing a job on the field to benefit someone else. You’re not out there for you – you’re out there for us.” 

As the team stays locked in and focused for their Sectional quarterfinals against the West Collierville Dragons on Tuesday night, Land already considers this season a triumph – both professionally and personally. This team, in particular, has given her 25 powerful reasons to rediscover her place in the game she once thought she had lost.           

“We've only been together ten weeks, but it feels like we've been together for years,” Land smiled.  “It has been beautiful, sort of watching that bloom over the season.”