Mississippi State women’s soccer recruiting class announced

STARKVILLE (Via Mississippi State University) – Mississippi State head soccer coach James Armstrong has announced the signing of six additional student-athletes to the 2019 class. They will join the five early enrollees already on campus to bring the Bulldogs’ newcomer total to 11 entering the fall.

State will add four midfielders, a goalkeeper and a defender to the roster from four different states and Canada.

Stormy Meier (Austin, Texas), Megan Mielke (Bellflower, California), Hannah Pimentel (Flowery Branch, Georgia), Madison Rust (Lakeside, California), Alissa Stewart (Burlington, Ontario) and Katelyn Williams (Brandon, Mississippi) will round out Armstrong’s first class.

“We are so excited to add this group of players to the Bulldog family,” Armstrong said. “They all bring a winning mentality and have played at the highest levels. This group will provide valuable depth in every position moving forward.”

Meier, a midfielder out of Vandergrift High School, was a two-star recruit and the No. 37 player in Texas according to TopDrawerSoccer.com. She was a part of four consecutive district championships and played club soccer with Lonestar Soccer Club where Armstrong was her first coach before he entered the collegiate ranks.

Meier earned a spot on Lonestar’s inaugural U.S. Development Academy team and played with their ECNL Champions League squad. She traveled to Gothenburg, Sweden, for the Gothia Cup in 2015 and scored two goals in international play.

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Mielke, a midfielder out of Mayfair High School, started every game her freshman year as her team was a state semifinalist and she was named Best Newcomer. The following year she earned Second Team All-CIF honors. She played club soccer for LA Galaxy’s U.S. Development Academy team and with Slammers FC. She scored 12 goals in two years with Galaxy and led Slammers in goal scoring in 2016.

Pimentel will bring much-needed depth to State’s goalkeeping corps. She split her high school career between Park City High School in Utah and Flowery Branch High School in Georgia. As a sophomore, she posted a 1.36 goals against average that ranked fourth in the state of Utah. In club play, she was a member of the Utah Olympic Development Program regional team.

With Flowery Branch, she made the Final Four as a junior after winning the region and going undefeated through the regular season. Pimentel recorded 12 shutouts that year and was named first team all-region.

Rust was the Grossmont Valley Player of the Year and earned her third first team all-league selection as a senior at El Capitan High School. She was named the Best Forward as a junior and Best Midfielder as a sophomore. The defender/midfielder scored 48 goals in 58 high school games.

In the club circuit, she competed with Rebels SC, winning the 2018 USYL National Championship. Her team was the top-ranked club in California and won the regional championship twice and the Coast League three times. She also played golf for three years and was named team MVP as a junior.

Stewart will be the third Canadian, all from Ontario, on the Bulldogs’ roster this fall. She attended Hayden Secondary School where her team finished as OFSAA silver medalists and Halton Champions in 2018. The previous season she was named team MVP.

She played club soccer for the Burlington Bayhawks who went undefeated in their league in 2018 while outscoring opponents 31-0 to win the Ontario Cup and earn a bronze medal at the national championships. The Bayhawks’ only losses that year came to U.S. Division I colleges. Stewart was a multi-sport athlete, playing field hockey and volleyball as well, and was named her school’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2017.

The only Mississippi native in this year’s class, Williams played at Northwest Rankin High School where her team won the 2017 state championship thanks, in part, to her assist on the championship-winning goal. The Cougars won their district three times in her career and were North State Champions twice. Northwest Rankin was ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 6 nationally in 2016-17.

This year she was selected to the MAC All-Star Team and chosen as Player of the Year. She was also the Clarion-Ledger’s Player of the Week in January. Williams played club soccer with International Futbol Club in Brandon.

For more information on the Bulldog soccer program, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for “HailStateSOC.”