[12/18/03]The last time Warren Central beat Vicksburg in girls soccer, a freshman Missy Gator had just started her ascent into the annals of Mississippi soccer lore.

The Missy Gators of 1995 bounced back quite nicely from that loss, though.

The team, led by coach Kevin Manton and a freshman phenom named Kristin Chapman, captured the first of three state championships that turned Vicksburg High into a state soccer juggernaut.

Chapman also put her name in the record books with 126 career goals the most in Warren County history at the time.

“I still keep in touch with those girls,” she said. “We’ll always be friends. We had such a strong team unity when I played for Vicksburg, and I think that’s one of the reasons we were so successful.”

Fast-forward to present day.

Chapman is now married and goes by the surname of Gough. She also is the coach of Warren Central’s girls soccer team, and her new team will face her former team Friday in Viking Stadium at 5:30 p.m.

“I’ll always feel something for Vicksburg,” Gough said, adding that her step-sister, Jill Rush, is a freshman on the Missy Gators’ squad. “Being on the team from ’95 to ’99 helped start this whole big run they had.

“I have a lot of memories. I’ll always have some loyalty there, but right now my loyalties lie with my girls here at Warren Central.”

Manton is just relieved that Gough is on the sidelines.

“I’m glad she’s not playing. Oh gosh,” he said with a laugh. “She was just a tremendous player, and I’m sure she’s carrying that over to her kids. You look at the scores in the ballgames and the teams they’ve played, and they’ve gotten better. She knew her work was cut out for her when she started, and she’s doing it.”

Although the Lady Vikes’ record sits at 3-7, they have played well in their losses. They just happened to have faced some of the state’s elite teams, such as Clinton, Brandon, Northwest Rankin and Madison Central.

“We’re steadily improving, and I think that the only way to get better is to play good opponents,” Gough said. “You can’t pad your schedule and then expect to win big games. I think that it’s going to help us that we’ve played such strong teams in preparation for this game.”

Vicksburg enters the game sitting on the other end of the spectrum at 7-3 and ranked No. 7 in the state. The Missy Gators have been led by their latest scoring star, Brandi Parker.

Manton said he can see a lot of similarities between Parker and Gough including their uniform numbers. Parker broke Gough’s scoring mark this season.

“They give you all they’ve got,” Manton said. “Kristin played hurt almost her entire senior year. They’re gritty, gutty, just very, very fierce competitors. They take it personally. They want to take it upon their own shoulders to do what it takes to win.”

While the game doesn’t count for division standings, bragging rights are on the line in what could be the first of many matchups between Manton and Gough.

“They play hard, like she always did,” Manton said of his former player. “I’m sure she’s trained them and coached them to do that. That’s the way they’re going to play, I expect.”