Mary Perkins feels at home at Appalachian State
There are a lot of things to consider when a person is picking what college to attend. But, one of the most common and important determining factors is that a certain college “feels like home”. For Appalachian State senior forward Mary Perkins, that’s exactly what led her to becoming a Mountaineer.
“Coming from the Charlotte area, App was only two hours away, so when it became time to start looking at colleges, I went to App for a soccer ID camp. From the minute I set foot in Boone, I could tell something was different about the town,” Perkins told BGN. “It felt like home. After that weekend, I decided that, college soccer or not, I would be attending App State. From there I continued to go to ID camps and create a relationship with the coaching staff and I ended up committing to App State.”
Perkins entered her senior season with four goals and two assists, evenly split between her sophomore and junior years. In the team’s fourth match of the season, she was able to equal her previous season-highs as her brace and one assist gave Appalachian State a 3-0 win over Georgia Southern. Perkins explained, “In the game against Georgia Southern, we were fresh off of an overtime loss Friday night and we needed the win in order to split the weekend. I just remember going into the game hungry to score some goals and more importantly, get a team win on the road.
“When I entered the game I felt like I was lighting it up and the team did a great job putting some away and not conceding any goals. Confidence wise, Georgia Southern was our first conference win and to get that on the road was a huge confidence boost, and it allowed us to return home to Boone and get another win the following Friday.”
GOAL! Brantley finds Perkins for the score. We hold a 1-0 lead with under four minutes left in the first half. pic.twitter.com/1quI1iKCeA
— App State W Soccer (@appstatewsoccer) September 20, 2020
Unfortunately, those were the only two wins of the season thus far. The Mountaineers are off to a 2-4 start in 2020 and have a busy October coming up with seven matches in the month. “I believe the key to getting things turned around in October is staying super switched on as a team and making sure we do the simple things well,” Perkins said. “In the Sun Belt, the teams are all very close competition-wise so switching off for even 30 seconds of a game can be the difference in a win or a loss.”
While Perkins and the Mountaineers won’t want to offer any of it to their opponents in October, she is a complete believer in southern hospitality. “Growing up in North Carolina has taught me that southern hospitality is 100% real,” she said. “I was actually born in Boston, Massachusetts and moved South when I was 2 years old, but going up North to visit family has definitely shown me that in the South, just walking down the street people will say hello and give you a big warm smile. Up North people are a lot more short tempered.”
Mary said a couple of her favorite southern-style dishes are mac n’ cheese and green bean casserole. She will be hoping some wins are on the menu for the Mountaineers as they get set to kick off their October slate of matches against The Citadel tomorrow at 2 PM with a conference matchup at Coastal Carolina on Sunday.
