Janet McMaster is hanging up her coach’s whistle.

Citing a desire to spend more time with her family, McMaster said Thursday she resigned as WC’s girls soccer coach after three seasons.

“My husband had surgery, and just trying to be at home with the family and being pulled away was hard,” McMaster said. “I had to make a decision on what was more important, and family is definitely more important.”

McMaster coached youth soccer for nearly 20 years before becoming the Lady Vikes’ coach in 2007. She led them to a 23-24-11 record during her tenure, with playoff appearances in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. The team went 7-7-3 with a young roster in 2009-10 and did not make the playoffs.

“Next year they have the potential to be a good team,” McMaster said. “I’m definitely going to miss it. I definitely enjoyed getting to know the girls. I’m still going to be around and help, just in a smaller capacity.”

Although McMaster was high on WC’s future prospects, the idea of attending games played by her 12- and 14-year-old daughters and coming home before dark during soccer season also appealed to her. During their respective seasons, coaches arrive for work around 7 a.m. and often don’t get home until 7 p.m. — sometimes much later on game nights.

“It was just feeling the pull of, ‘where do I need to be?’” McMaster said. “It was hard. If I’m going to do a job I want to do the best I can do, no matter what it is.”

McMaster said she will continue in her role as a physical education teacher at Beechwood Elementary.

Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com