Dixie soccer peaks after near demise
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
ST. GEORGE, UTAH — When budget cuts and a coaching vacancy threatened to doom the Dixie State College women's soccer program, Linda Huddleston stepped up and volunteered to save the program.
Two years later, she is the national coach of the year.
A member of the St. George 9th Ward, St. George Utah East Stake, she received the honor for the junior college level from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America during its January convention. At the same time, Dixie sophomore defender Nicole Anderson was named junior college national player of the year.
It was just two years ago that the school was struggling to make its budget when the soccer coach left for a new opportunity. The school considered dropping the program to save the money that would go to the coach's salary. Sister Huddleston, wife of school president Robert C. Huddleston, then offered to coach the team as a volunteer to keep it alive.
Although she had a bachelor's degree from BYU and a master's degree from Northern Arizona University in physical education, she had very little coaching experience outside of her own children's youth teams.
"It was kind of scary for me; it was a big step up," she said during a Church News interview. But her first season, the team finished third in the nation.
Then in 2003, with a team that happened to consist of all LDS players, Dixie won the junior college national championship at the end of a 24-4-1 season. Anderson and sophomore goalie Suzy Hunt and freshman forward Julee Russell made the National Junior College Athletic Association All-America team.
Sister Huddleston said that while she recruits the best players she thinks she can get, the focus is on Utah players and many of them — or as is the case last season, all of them — happen to be members of the Church.
"I would describe the team as very unselfish," she said. "The most important thing was that they played together as a team, easy to work with, very cooperative."
They also have close association with each other. She said whenever one would speak in sacrament meeting, her teammates would attend to hear her.
She also noted that 14 members of the championship team had academic scholarships. — Greg Hill
