Blake Colston
sports@piedmontnewsonline.com
Senior Brianna Meschberger doesn’t lead Piedmont in any statistical category this season. She’s far off the team-lead in goals scored.
Yet, on a team with multiple offensive weapons, a top-notch goalkeeper and a deep bench, Meschberger might be Piedmont’s most valuable asset.
As the district champion Lady Wildcats (14-1, 7-0) open the Class 5A playoffs at home against Guthrie Tuesday night at 7 as a favorite to reach their first state title game in program history, it’s hard to find anyone on Piedmont’s team that disagrees.
“It’s hard to take her off the field because of her leadership,” head coach Brad Brucker said. “She’s not our most talented player, but she brings the best out of everyone around her.”
Meschberger’s impact has been felt at every level of the team this season, even if she tends to understate the factor she’s played.
“I’ve just always been an encouraging person,” she said.
Junior keeper Maci Attalla credits Meschberger for helping mold her into a dominant defensive presence this season. Attalla and Piedmont have allowed just six goals all season with 11 shutouts.
“She is a great leader on and off the field and has helped me grow as a keeper by getting me to talk more and always go hard,” Attalla said.
Freshmen like Kenley Gold, Brooke Welch and Lenzie Stephenson, who, along with senior Kilie Swanson, have developed into Piedmont’s top goal-scorers, leaned on Meschberger early in the season as they found their footing during their first year as varsity players.
Midfielder Aspen Cope, Piedmont’s best overall talent according to Brucker, gained the confidence to take command of the Lady Wildcats on the field with a push from Meschberger. That’s taken the Lady Wildcats’ offense to another level.
“She is always there when I start to get down on myself when I’m not playing good,” Cope said. “She’s hands down the best leader and most positive person on the team.”
Brucker leans on her, too. In the ‘Cats’ 5-2 win over Santa Fe South that clinched a district title, he moved Meschberger from a centerback position to defensive midfielder, a position she’d never played before.
“She didn’t bat an eye and she played great,” Brucker said. “You could just feel it from the bench and everyone on the field, that was the move that galvanized everyone. They supported her and wanted to see her succeed because she does that for them every day.”
Meschberger has earned her role as the team’s unquestioned leader. When she arrived as a freshman, Brucker doubted she’d ever see much playing time, but a rash of injuries forced her into the lineup. Almost four years later, Meschberger is a three-year starter cemented in the lineup.
It would be four, but Meschberger missed all of her junior season with a torn ACL and meniscus in her right knee. Back after a year-long rehab, Meschberger is almost as good as ever, she said, despite the bulky brace she has to wear each game.
“I feel like I’m playing decent, but not as well as I can,” she said. “But I wanted my starting spot back for my senior season so I worked really hard.”
Without Meschberger on the pitch in 2017, Piedmont fell well short of its preseason expectations. The Lady ‘Cats lost to McGuinness 6-1 in the state quarterfinals. Brucker said, more than anything, the team missed her leadership and heart, and chemistry suffered as a result. By the end of the season, Piedmont was a fractured team.
Back healthy again, Meschberger is the cornerstone piece of what Brucker says is Piedmont’s ‘best team ever.’
“I think the chemistry is our biggest factor,” Meschberger said of the turnaround. “We’ve had no drama and it’s been great.”
Two years ago, Meschberger played on the Lady Wildcat team that lost in the Class 5A state semfinals. She remembers crying for the first time ever in her soccer career after that game.
Now, Piedmont is three wins away from its first state championship game appearance in program history. She says the devotion of this team toward that goal is unlike any she’s seen before.
“Everyone of us wants it so bad,” she said.
None more than Meschberger, who has made a career out of sacrificing for her team.
“She understands that when she invests in people, people will invest back into her,” Brucker said. “That’s exactly what is happening.”
