Macey Kamryn Hodge (born May 4, 2001) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played college soccer for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, where she was named first-team All-American and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Midfielder of the Year in 2024.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Macey Kamryn Hodge[1] | ||
| Date of birth | May 4, 2001[1] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Angel City FC | ||
| Number | 8 | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2020–2024 | Mississippi State Bulldogs | 97 | (0) |
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2024– | Angel City FC | 0 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Early life and college career
editHodge was raised in Douglasville, Georgia, with two sisters; her mother, Kandi Vaughn; and her stepfather, Michael. She began playing soccer with Southern Soccer Academy at age eight. She attended Robert S. Alexander High School, where she was named the most valuable player on the soccer team in her freshman, sophomore, and senior years. She was rated as a two-star recruit by TopDrawerSoccer and committed to Vanderbilt after her sophomore year, but shortly before graduating in 2019, she decided to put her mental health first and quit the sport. She felt anxiety partly due to her birth father's struggle with addiction, which often made him absent from her life, and her sister's kidney disease diagnosis, from which she later recovered. Hodge enrolled in the University of West Georgia after high school and got a job as a cashier at Kroger. Within a semester, however, she felt ready to return to soccer and transferred to Mississippi State, where her club coach knew several assistants, at the start of 2020.[1][2]
Mississippi State Bulldogs
editHodge worked herself back into form and started all but the opening game for the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the 2020 season, being used across the positions of attacking midfielder, defensive midfielder, and center back. She was voted one of the team's captains by her second season.[2] In the 2022 season, she started every game and helped Mississippi State secure their first NCAA tournament match win in program history.[1][3] In the 2023 season, she earned first-team All-SEC honors as she led Mississippi State to their first SEC tournament semifinal appearance and the third round of the NCAA tournament, where they lost to eventual finalists Stanford.[1][4] She was central to Mississippi State's breakout 2024 season as they went undefeated in conference play, allowing only two goals in ten games, to claim the program's first SEC regular-season title.[5][6] They received a top seed in the NCAA tournament and equaled their best-ever showing, falling in the third round against Notre Dame when they conceded at home for the first time all season.[7] For her performance, Hodge was named first-team All-American, first-team All-SEC, and the SEC Midfielder of the Year.[6] She finished her five years in Starkville with 97 appearances (96 starts), the most in program history.[1][5]
Club career
editAngel City FC
editAngel City FC announced on December 23, 2024, that they had signed Hodge to a two-year contract, with a club option to extend an additional year.[8]
Honors and awards
editMississippi State Bulldogs
- Southeastern Conference: 2024
Individual
- First-team All-American: 2024
- First-team All-SEC: 2023, 2024
- SEC Midfielder of the Year: 2024
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "Macey Hodge". Mississippi State Bulldogs. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
- ^ a b DeRosa, Theo (August 23, 2021). "The making of Macey Hodge: How the Mississippi State midfielder lost soccer and found herself". The Commercial Dispatch. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
- ^ "State Claims First NCAA Tournament Win". Mississippi State Bulldogs. November 11, 2022. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
- ^ Krajisnik, Stefan (November 20, 2023). "NCAA Tournament run ends for Mississippi State women's soccer in third round vs Stanford". The Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
- ^ a b Robertson, Steve (October 28, 2024). "Hodge exemplifies the Mississippi State story". 247Sports. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
- ^ a b "Macey Hodge Becomes Mississippi State Soccer's First MAC Hermann Semifinalist". Mississippi State Bulldogs. December 4, 2024. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
- ^ Sklar, Sam (November 24, 2024). "Mississippi State soccer season ends in NCAA tournament Sweet 16 loss to Notre Dame". The Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
- ^ "Angel City Signs Midfielder Macey Hodge". Angel City FC. December 23, 2024. Retrieved December 23, 2024.