Philp trades cleats for clipboard in 2016

For more than a decade, Houma resident Meghan Philp has been a goal-scoring machine – a player who dominated at both the high school and college levels with her elite striking and incredible on-field IQ.

But now that college is done and playing opportunities at the next level are somewhat limited, Philp is furthering her love for the sport in a different way.

She’s now a coach.

Philp announced before the 2016 season that she’d taken a job as an assistant coach at Catawba College – a small NCAA Division II soccer program in North Carolina.

The former Vandebilt standout said the shift to coaching is different, but so far, it’s been fulfilling.

Catawba is 6-1-1 on the season at press-time, and the team is among the favorites to win its conference.

“It’s different, but good,” Philp said of being a coach. “I hate not physically being on the field playing games, but I’m hard working, willing to learn and very empathetic. I think I’m very competitive, and I have a constant desire to not only win, but to always get better, and we’re working hard to do that every day.”

For Philp, the path to Catawba wasn’t planned, but she said she has no regrets for how anything fell into place.

In the 2015 college soccer season, Philp was on the pitch – the last of her four seasons at Belmont Abbey, a place where she solidified herself as a top talent in the sport.

At Belmont, Philp was a four-time All-Conference winner, and she was selected to the First-Team All-Conference Carolinas squad in 2015 as a senior.

She also was named to the very prestigious NSCAA All-Region squad in that year.

After graduating from Belmont Abbey in May of this past year, Philp sought professional opportunities around the world, but had a tough time finding an opportunity because of the downturn in the global economy, which has heavily restricted the amount of money that women’s soccer players are able to make in respective pro leagues.

So as talks cooled on the professional level, Philp shifted her attention to finding full-time work, which led her to the idea of coaching.

She said she applied for a couple college jobs, and didn’t even expect to get a return call because of her age and inexperience in the profession.

But a few days after applying to Catawba, Philp got a call from Indians head soccer coach Nick Brown, who scheduled an interview with Philp about the position.

A week after the interview, Philp said she went to Carowinds amusement park when her phone rang.

It was Brown on the other end of the line – with a job offer in hand.

She accepted, and started her duties shortly thereafter.

“I, honestly, didn’t think I had a shot at any of those coaching jobs,” Philp said. “My assistant coach at Belmont Abbey, Jaime Malilong, was a driving force in helping me, though. He contacted both colleges on my behalf, and that helped me to get the interview with Catawba. … Once I got hired, I immediately called Coach Jaime to thank him for pushing me to pursue coaching and for getting in touch with Catawba for me.”

One of the biggest things that helped put Philp over the top was her experience working with younger players.

A lot of her responsibility with the Indians is developing the team’s underclassmen and making them into better players.

Philp said she’s done soccer camps for years – dating all the way back to her days as a goal-scoring machine at Vandebilt Catholic.

At Belmont Abbey, she often volunteered and worked at the school’s team camps.

“Coaching isn’t something I necessarily always wanted to do, but it’s something I’ve always found myself doing in some form or fashion. In high school, I gave private lessons often. I helped one girl who is a starter for Vandebilt and is a senior player right now. In college, I worked multiple college and youth camps at Belmont Abbey. I think no matter what I’m doing, whether it’s in soccer or something else, coaching will play a big role in that.”

But even in her new, non-playing role, Philp said she loves to win, and that’s something that the Indians have been doing in a big way so far this season.

Catawba opened its season with a whimper, falling in overtime to Flagler College in its opener, then tying Belmont Abbey in a homecoming reunion for Philp.

But since that time, the Indians have won six-straight matches, including a 5-0 mark in conference play.

Philp said the challenge now is for the team to keep playing its best soccer in the final games of the regular season.

She said the team has progressed, but is hungry to win high-stakes games at the end of the season.

Philp said she’s always hungry, and is trying to attack new job the same way she attacked soccer as a player – by winning every, single day.

“I love helping the team get better,” she said. “I love passing on my soccer knowledge and experience.”

Meghan Philp

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