2024 All-County Soccer: Hall finishes high school career with Player of the Year award
Published Sunday, March 17, 2024 at 4 a.m.
- Warren Central senior midfielder Gloria Hall has been named the 2024 Vicksburg Post Women's Soccer Player of the Year. This season, she had 14 goals and 10 assists, leading the Lady Vikes to the MHSAA Class 6A semifinals. (Ernest Bowker/Vicksburg Post)
As a freshman, Gloria Hall was thrust into an awkward role on Warren Central's soccer team.
There were no returning starters, and she was one of the few with experience. Her coaches and teammates expected her to shoulder a heavy burden on and off the field. She handled it well and continued to carry it throughout her high school career.
The midfielder scored a goal. she helped them. She played defense and did everything the Lady Vikes needed to be successful. Now, she's closing out her run as Warren County's best player, just as she started.
Hall, a senior, led Warren Central to the MHSAA Class 6A semifinals this season and won her second Vicksburg Post Girls Soccer Player of the Year award.
“This sport is definitely a sport that I am passionate about, so achieving all of these accomplishments makes me proud of the program,” Hall said.
Hall scored 20 goals as a freshman in 2021 and was named Player of the Year. She recorded 14 assists and 10 assists this season while playing as a midfielder. She acted as a striker in high school, scoring 64 goals in six seasons for her varsity team.
In another symmetry of his career, Hall leaves as one of just three players in the WC senior class of 2024, along with defenseman Riley Martin and forward Adi Love-Leist.
Six starters were sophomores or younger, including leading scorer Jordan Polk (21 goals) and sophomore and eighth-grader Allie Mason (11 goals).
Hall said working with so many young players had its challenges, but by the end of the season it didn't matter at all. The Lady Vikes started the new year with a record of 7-2 and finished with a record of 16-6.
“It was very difficult at first, but as we got closer to the end of the season, we all became very close to each other. When you're on a team, age doesn't really matter,” Hall said. “Our team didn't value seniority. I think seniority is important when you're on a team.”
Hall's final season may have been her best, as it was the best for the Lady Vikes in a long time.
Warren Central won the MHSAA Region 2-6A championship and its first playoff game since 2005. More wins followed, advancing to the state semifinals for the first time in school history.
The result ended with a loss to Saltillo, which won the Class 6A championship for the second year in a row. That did little to diminish what they accomplished.
“It's an incredible feeling,” Hall said. “We worked so hard for this. I can't tell you how proud I am of them.”
One phase of Hall's soccer career is over, but the next phase is just beginning. She signed a contract to play at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
“I'm really looking forward to it,” Hall said. “This is something I'm passionate about, so playing at the next level is a dream I've always had and I'm achieving that.”
Vicksburg Post Girls Player of the Year
2024 – Gloria Hall, Warren Central
2023 – Amari Johnson, Vicksburg
2022 – Trinity McGloster, Vicksburg
2021 – Gloria Hall, Warren Central
2020 – Madeline Polk, Warren Central
2019 – Brantley Richards, St. Aloysius
2018 – Mary Ranager, St. Aloysius
2017 – Mikayla Banks, Vicksburg
2016 – Sarah McDaniel, St. Aloysius
2015 – Mikayla Banks, Vicksburg
2014 – Mikayla Banks, Vicksburg
2013 – Tabitha Hayden, Vicksburg
2012 – Lindsey Barfield, Warren Central
2011 – Riley Griffiths, St. Aloysius
2010 – Tabitha Hayden, Vicksburg
2009 – Rebecca Wilson and Deari Gilliam, Vicksburg
2008 – Kristin Fichenich, Warren Central
2007 – Mary Claire Scrier, Warren Central
2006 – Andrea Harrison, St. Aloysius
2005 – Emily Coker, Warren Central
2004 – Brandi Parker, Vicksburg
2003 – Brandi Parker, Vicksburg
2002 – Brandi Parker, Vicksburg
2001 – Courtney Chapman, Vicksburg
2000 – Courtney Hubert, Warren Central
1999 – Christine Chapman, Vicksburg
About Ernest Bowker
Ernest Bowker is the sports editor of the Vicksburg Post. He has been a member of the Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is an LSU graduate. During his career, he received more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and the Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.
Other works by Ernest
