Bearden junior Brinley Murphy is the 2021 5Star Preps Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
BY DAVE LINK
Bearden’s Brinley Murphy was the focal point of opposing defenses the entire 2021 girls’ soccer season.
It didn’t seem to matter.
The junior forward still posted 30 goals and 11 assists, earning District 4-AAA and Region 2-AAA MVP honors as the Lady Bulldogs (23-0-1) won the Class AAA state championship.
“She faced double teams, triple teams, and she still produced, either assisted or scored,” Bearden coach Ryan Radcliffe said.
Murphy, a South Carolina commitment and the 5Star Preps Player of the Year, had one goal in each of Bearden’s three state tournament matches.
She was confident going into the season and state tournament.
“I knew it was going to happen,” Murphy said, “but until we actually won, I didn’t believe it had happened because we were undefeated and we broke a lot of records. I’m just really happy for the team and everything we accomplished this year.”
Bearden won its first state title since 2007 when it won the second of back-to-back championships.
The Lady Bulldogs entered the season as a favorite to win state after reaching the Class AAA semifinals in 2020.
“It was pressure, for sure, because a lot of games I was getting double-teamed and stuff,” Murphy said, “and a lot of teams were wanting to give us our first loss, which helped prepare us for state because we were getting every team’s best game every time we played.
Murphy doesn’t just put her speed, strength, and athleticism on display during soccer season. She comes off the bench for the highly touted Bearden girls’ basketball team and holds her own playing in the frontcourt.
“Honestly, I love playing (basketball),” Murphy said. “It’s a lot to do, especially because I go from basketball practice to soccer practice three days a week, but it’s definitely worth it because I love the girls on the team, and also I really think we could win state for the girls’ basketball team, and it would be really cool to get two rings. That would be fun.”
Murphy stays plenty busy juggling both sports. She plays the highest level of club soccer for FC Alliance and often travels during weekends for tournaments.
“It’s definitely a lot, especially with school and the classes I take,” Murphy said, “but I make sure I plan my time very well, so I think it will actually benefit me when I go to college because I’ll already have my time management down.”
Radcliffe said Murphy brings some intangibles to the Bearden teams.
“She’s such a personable girl. She’s a people person,” he said. “She’s funny, she gets along with everybody, but I think ultimately at the end of the day she’s also a competitor. She wants to do whatever she can to win games. She’s never satisfied. She wants to continue getting better, and it’s cool to see because you saw her and heard about her since her eighth-grade year. Just the reputation she’s had, and she’s been able to carry that and not let it get to her.”
For her career, Murphy has 69 goals and 31 assists in three seasons at Bearden.
The Lady Bulldogs’ program record for career goals is 94 set by Samantha Turner, a 2011 graduate. Turner had 24 goals as a senior in 2010 and 17 as a freshman in 2007 on the state championship team.
“(Murphy’s) stats speak for themselves,” Radcliffe said. ‘I think we played one of the toughest schedules in the state, and we set records this year, and she wasn’t just putting in goals in games where we were beating people 6-0, or 7-0. She was putting in big-time goals, games where we needed somebody to break the tie, like the state championship.
“It was cool to see somebody put in those goals and help her team and do the things she’s been doing her whole career.”