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It was senior night for the Troup County Tigers as they beat Spencer 2-0 and celebrated four senior players that are pivotal to the team on Monday. Emily Beesley, Felicity Gill, Kirsten Vaughn, and Monserrath Villar-Vasquez are Troup soccer royalty and were treated as such on the evening. 

Each of them spoke about what it means to be a Troup Tiger and specifically a part of this team. 

“I just like the feeling of the family on the team,” Beesley said. “There’s no one on the team that I couldn’t go to, and they’d all have my back no matter what.”

“This team has been the best family I can be a part of,” Vaughn said. “These are the people I can always go to and trust with all of my secrets. I can tell them my whole life story and not be judged by them.”

“It’s a family, not just everybody on the team, but the whole school, the teachers, the boys’ team,” Gill said. “These are my sisters.”

“This is more like my family,” Villar-Vasquez said. “I can’t wait to be in contact with them after high school.”

Head coach Eddie Lawson knows how special this group of seniors is.

“This could be the first group of seniors to play in back-to-back playoffs ever in Troup history,” he said. “That’s a monument to them and their dedication and without their leadership we would not have had the success we’ve had.”

Beesley shepherds the team from midfield. 

“Beesley is our leader,” Lawson said. “When we need to address something we can come to her.”

Beesley’s favorite soccer memory: Scoring three own goals in one game.

Gill leads the front line and scored both goals on the evening.

“Felicity is our goal scorer, and she might be in the running for the leading goalscorer in Troup history with the amount of goals she’s scored,” Lawson said.

Her favorite memories as a Tiger: Going to the boys’ bathroom at Waffle House and how happy the team gets for each other when somebody scores.

Villar-Vasquez is the stalwart at the back.

“She’s the quiet one, she just does what she needs to do,” Lawson said. “She takes care of business on the defensive side.”

Her favorite memory with the team was recovering from a torn ACL and returning to play with her sisters.   

Gill has moved around during her four years and has not been able to settle into one position.

“Kirsten has been our Band-Aid player for a couple of years,” Lawson said. “She played up front for us last year, she’s played wing, she’s played mid, and this year we asked her to play defensive.”

Vaughn’s favorite memory with the soccer team: Getting a yellow card against rival LaGrange during her senior season. 

The Tigers improved to 6-8 overall and 4-3 in region play. The Tigers only have two more regular-season games on the docket with their next game home to Kendrick on Wednesday.