Myers Park soccer standouts chart very different futures

One of them hopes to go on and play in Olympic or World Cup qualifying matches.

The other probably might not play competitive soccer after this season.

But these two friends – with different backgrounds and ambitions – have a common goal.

“We’d like to win it all,” says Myers Park High Caileen Almeida, one of the leading scorers on a Mustang team that will enter next week’s 4A playoffs with an unbeaten record (13-0-1).

Almeida and Caroline Pulliam, the team’s No. 3 scorer, are leaders on a squad that has only a 0-0 tie with Providence marring its perfect record.

Myers Park, along with South Mecklenburg and Hough, are considered the Charlotte area’s top candidates for the 4A title.

Almeida and Pulliam have been good friends since Pulliam transferred to Myers Park from Charlotte Catholic as a sophomore. But they knew one another since age 10, playing together in the advanced youth soccer programs.

Their leadership is a key part of what Mustang coach Bucky McCarley wants in his teams.

“It’s my goal every year – complete buy-in by the seniors,” says McCarley, who also coached the Myers Park boys to a 4A runner-up finish earlier this spring.

“It’s what seniors should do – lead,” he adds.

Almeida and Pulliam have followed very different routes to this point.

Pulliam is a North Carolina native. She started in soccer at age 4, played in the Charlotte Independence Soccer Academy program, spent her freshman year at Charlotte Catholic, then came to Myers Park.

Almeida was born in Miami but moved to Charlotte at age 4. Before the move, her parents enrolled her in a soccer program. “I was hooked – from the first time I tried it,” Almeida says.

She also played in the Charlotte Independence Soccer Academy program and eventually landed at Myers Park.

But Almeida has international soccer experience. Her father is Puerto Rican by birth, so Caileen is a member of the Puerto Rican national team program. She played with the commonwealth’s U-17 and U-21 teams in recent years in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

“Walking out into the stadium, hearing the national anthem – it gives you goose bumps,” she says.

She hopes to stay with the program, after it gears up again following a COVID-19 shutdown.

“Playing for Puerto Rico means a lot to my family, especially to my grandparents,” she says.

Both Almeida and Pulliam had knee surgeries a few years ago, and they say injuries and a lack of experience – girls’ soccer was shut down most of last season due to COVID – created some hurdles for Myers Park early this season.

“At first, it seemed as if we were getting to know one another,” Almeida says.

“And for some reason, we had a lot of injuries,” Pulliam adds.

But the Mustangs blazed through the Southwestern 4A Conference schedule, outscoring opponents 90-2.

Almeida serves as a sort of assistant coach, often standing next to McCarley during matches when she is pulled early, because the Mustangs are so far ahead.

“She has a fascination for the game, and she’s always trying to learn more about it,” McCarley says. “She wants to learn how she can make the players around her better.”

As for Pulliam, McCarley starts by saying, “I don’t want this to sound wrong – but she’s unassuming.

“Opponents don’t know what’s going to happen to them. And the next thing you know, Caroline’s scored two goals. If she gets inside, she’ll destroy you with her right foot.”

But not after this season.

While Almeida heads to Wofford University and possibly some time this summer in Puerto Rico, Pulliam is switching sports.

She’s also an excellent field hockey player and plans to compete in that sport next year at Sewanee University in Tennessee.

“I’ve always gone back and forth between soccer and field hockey,” Pulliam says. “I’ll go with field hockey next year.”

Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle