SENATOBIA - There is no doubt that James Beattie has made a significant splash in his time at Northwest.

Since taking over the Lady Rangers' head coaching job in December 2020, the Glasgow, Scotland native has guided Northwest to a six-win COVID-19 season that saw the program earn their first playoff appearance since 2017. Last fall, Beattie's club climbed further, winning a single-season record of 15 matches and advancing to the MACCC Semifinals, all while consistently remaining in the NJCAA and United Soccer Coaches' national rankings.

"The culture that we set last year is the next step to creating a winning program from one year to the next," Beattie said. "I think that the fact that some of our current girls were a part of that team that made it to the semifinals and they now have that experience of tournament play could benefit us in a win or go home scenario."

Although the Lady Rangers lost a large chunk of last year's talent, Beattie's club is in good shape and poised to climb to new heights this season. While the experience and contributions of veterans Ally Bailey, M.J. Loeffel, Molly Rose and Maggie Olive will be missed, Northwest still returns a small, but talented core of student-athletes from last season.

Among those returning are midfielder Jennifer Enriquez, who led the conference in assists last season. A native of Las Cruces, N.M., Enriquez began to turn heads early last season, earning multiple MACCC Player of the Week awards, while shattering the program's single season and career records for assists. Joining her are fellow veterans Melinda Hernandez, Eliza Olive, Malaesha Liddell, Katie Archer and Addy McCann.

"With so many new faces, the sophomores are going to drive that culture we instilled last year," Beattie said. "They are going to work hard to make that culture and our standards even better than last year. As a group, they know that this is their last dance here and that is going to be pivotal in how they perform and how they conduct themselves."

Despite the small amount of returning faces, Beattie's newcomers are without a doubt the best signing class that he's had. Olive Branch native Hadleigh Watson joins the program after spending last season with Austin Peay at the Division I level and redshirt freshman Amaya Andrews has fully recovered from an injury that kept her sidelined all last year.

Additionally, the Lady Rangers also bring in the duo of Jadyn Duran and Dani Rodriguez from New Mexico, as well Clinton native and Blinn College transfer Jada Jelks. Several others have really made their presence felt in the preseason, according to Beattie.

"It's unfair to name anyone in particular, because every player on this team gives us something that we need," Beattie said. "Everyone will play a significant role this year. That puts a huge emphasis on our team impact and they know that."

Andrews is expected to make a huge impact on the Lady Rangers' defense and has backed that up with a strong performance in the preseason. The duo of Duran and Rodriguez join Tupelo native Evie Crawford as providing a stronger, faster attack up front, while Watson, Avery Hooker (Tupelo) and Caroline King (New Albany) all provide more depth as midfielders.

Northwest has a different look to its schedule this season, as Beattie has proven his club isn't afraid of challenges. The Lady Rangers took on a trio of NCAA Division II programs in exhibition play, finishing 1-1-1 against Delta State, Christian Brothers and Harding University, with one goal being the difference in a narrow loss to DSU. The schedule also provides some hurdles to clear before entering conference play on September 16 at No. 6 Jones College.

"We had three fairly good results against a series of Division II, four-year programs," Beattie said. "Our first three regular season matches will present separate challenges and Mineral Area is nationally ranked, so they will give us some challenges as well. We were very cautious about scheduling these non-conference matches and these will prepare us for what we will face within the MACCC."

One of the most notable differences this season comes within the conference. Gone are the classic North and South divisions, which have now been replaced by a wide-open conference slate. Aside from the Lady Rangers' No. 13 preseason ranking, conference foes Jones College and Holmes are also represented in the national top 10, while East Central will start the year ranked at No. 18 overall.

While the change will be different to everyone, Beattie says he is actually looking forward to playing every conference school throughout the season.

"I think it is really good that the conference has progressed and have opened up everything," Beattie said, on the new scheduling format. "Any team can beat anyone on any given day. Every squad in the league has really great players and great coaching staffs, so this is the environment I want us to play in."

Without a doubt, this season should be another exciting one for Beattie and his program. 

"Our main goal is to compete and be able to finish better than what we did last year," Beattie said. "We're looking to have a more successful season this year and that will bring some challenges with it. You never know when you're going to be thrown a curveball in college soccer, so being adaptable will be important as a team to take another step forward this year."

Northwest and National Park College will square off on Saturday at 1 P.M. The match has been moved to the Senatobia Sports Park due to field conditions, but fans can still follow along with the live broadcast and live stats on nwccrangers.com.