Soccer star signs to play at D1 UCA

Cabot’s Hadley Dickinson, right, battles Bentonville’s Melanie Matkins for the ball during the Class 7A state-championship soccer game in Fayetteville last May. Dickinson recently signed to play soccer next year at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
Cabot’s Hadley Dickinson, right, battles Bentonville’s Melanie Matkins for the ball during the Class 7A state-championship soccer game in Fayetteville last May. Dickinson recently signed to play soccer next year at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

CABOT — Cabot senior soccer star Hadley Dickinson is taking her game to the collegiate level.

Dickinson, who helped the Lady Panthers to a state runner-up finish in 2016, recently signed to play at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway next year. UCA is an NCAA Division I school in the Southland Conference.

“I wanted to play college soccer, and I decided during my 10th-grade year,” said Dickinson, who transferred to Cabot prior to her junior year. She previously played at Bryant, winning a state title her sophomore season in 2015.

“My coaches felt like I was good enough and could do it,” she said.

Dickinson, a midfielder, said she received interest from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, as well as Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia. OBU is an NCAA Division II school.

“Fayetteville showed some interest in a walk-on position,” Dickinson said. “UCA offered more money, and I wanted to stay close to home, since it’s only 45 minutes away. [UCA] offered the most money, and that is how I need to pay for college.”

Dickinson has been playing soccer since she was 4 years old. She lived in Jonesboro and Fort Smith before moving to Bryant.

“I was just playing recreation-league soccer,” she said. “When we moved to Bryant, I played for the Little Rock Futbol Club, which is now Arkansas United. We’re good and have won state the past five years, and I played at Bryant High School for two years.”

While at Bryant, the Lady Hornets finished as Class 7A state runner-up in 2014 before winning the state title in 2015.

Dickinson said coming to Cabot after winning state at Bryant was a little difficult.

“I didn’t know how it was going to be compared to that team,” she said, referring to her previous school. “At the beginning of the season, no one really thought we’d make it that far. Cabot had never made it that far before. When we made it to the finals, we thought, ‘We could really do this.’”

Cabot finished 20-5, losing to Bentonville 3-0 in the Class 7A championship game in Fayetteville.

“Making it to the state championship game for my third year in a row was crazy,” Dickinson said.

During her junior season, Dickinson had 18 goals and 17 assists from her midfield position. She was second in goals behind Tristyn Edgar, who had 34, and second on the team in assists behind Maddie Rice.

“She’s a game-changer,” seventh-year Cabot coach Kerry Castillo said of Dickinson. “When she makes up her mind, she can completely take over a game.”

Castillo coached against Dickinson for two years before having the privilege of coaching her last year.

“I’ve not seen a game where someone could contain her,” he said. “There’s not been a game where someone could keep her from having an impact. We lost the finals 3-0, but she just never saw enough of the ball. We’d turn the ball over, or we never got her into a situation where she could exert herself.

“The thing about soccer is the field is so big, and there are so many players, it does take everyone to work together to be successful. Every once in a while, you can get a player that can just spring loose whenever they want.”

Castillo said Dickinson takes a personal responsibility to defend and attack.

“She’s not a selfish player,” he said. “She won’t wait around for you to get her the ball. She’ll drop as deep as she has to to go and defend. It bothers her for the other team to score. It matters to her that much.”

Castillo said Dickinson is the “most complete” player he’s coached.

“I’ve had some very good defenders, and I’ve had some very good scorers, but I’ve never had one that was equally skilled at both at the same time,” Castillo said. “She’s gifted and has a good attitude about it as well.”

Castillo said Dickinson’s work rate is hard to match when the team does fitness assessments.

“I have to make her stop,” he said. “She will just go until she is sick. It’s rare that you see a player as talented and skilled, especially at the high-school level, have as high an intrinsic work rate as that.

“For a coach, it is something you really appreciate.”

Dickinson said that for the Lady Panthers to be successful this season, they must work hard in practice.

“We need to make our practice like we’re going to play,” she said. “We have to get our mentality right. We think last year — we’re really hungry to get another win and try to do better than last year. I know we’re capable of it. We have a lot more talent that last year.”

Dickinson said she loves the fast-pace aspect of soccer.

“There is no stopping of the game,” she said. “I’m not one who likes to sit around. The fact that you have to work for every game is big. They don’t come easy in soccer because they are always low-scoring games.”

Dickinson has played basketball in the past. She is currently a member of the Cabot High School track team, where she runs the 800 meters, the 3,200-meter relay and the 1,600-meter relay.

During the offseason, Dickinson rotates days between soccer practice and track practice.

“I won’t miss a soccer game for a track meet because soccer is my No. 1 sport,” she said. “That is what I’m going to do when I’m older.”

Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.

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