He said it was the biggest struggle that he’s ever endured.

With the seventh game of his junior season almost over

, star soccer player Taylor

Rudolph (12) chased his collegiate dream- a dream that Rudol

ph, with a relatively short body,

never thought possible. But after he earned Best of Preps

honors for the 2013 season, the dream

was transitioning into a reality.

It was April 11, 2014, and the Spartans were facing off agains

t the Bearden High

School Bulldogs. The Bulldogs were on the verge of a win

.

Rudolph’s eyes scanned the field. Gliding through the middle o

f the field, he saw two

Spartan strikers cutting toward the goal. “We need to scor

e,” he thought. Then pop. A Bearden

player got a foot in front of Taylor and tripped him. Rudolp

h face-planted toward the ground.

“They were already beating us, and the dude just purposely t

ripped him,” teammate

Xavier Lake (12), who played soccer with Taylor since thei

r freshman year, said. Even Rudolph

later admits that the trip was purposeful.

He attempted to stand up but was fixed to the ground after he

aring a pop in his

shoulder. Lake, who helped lead the team to the State t

ournament in 2013, squatted down at half

field ,wondering why this was happening to his friend.

White Station’s trainer came to help Rudolph off the fiel

d. For the rest of the game, he

stood on the sidelines moving his arm around, worrying about his

future in soccer, and

wondering how the team could survive without him.

Later that night, the doctor delivered the news. Broken col

lar bone. No soccer for three

months. Just like that, his season ended and his dream to pl

ay college soccer was in jeopardy.

Humble Beginnings

In Rudolph’s love for soccer started in his backyard.

Austin Rudolph, Taylor’s older brother, introduced him to

the game. The two began a

life-long, brotherly rivalry through their intense back

yard battles and pick-up games.

“Before soccer I was really interested in basketball

,” Rudolph said, “and [Austin]

slowly persuaded me into playing soccer, and I enjoyed the spor

t from the start.”

Soccer seemed to come naturally to him. At first, the y

ounger Rudolph dabbled in a

church league, but it wasn’t competitive enough for him.

Then, he played up three years with Austin’s recreation

al team. But it was always

obvious that Rudolph was a cut better than the rest. So fr

om fourth grade onwards, Rudolph

played on various competitive teams including the Memphis F

alcons, Tennessee Rush,

Collierville Lobo and Lobos Rush. All of his coaches he

lped reinforce his dream to play college

soccer, but only one of these coaches transformed and re

fined his game more than anyone else:

Dwayne Lawrence.

Dwayne Lawrence coached both the Falcons and Tennessee

Rush, and his advice that

he would need to gain better techniques and tactics in order

to compete with the bigger, taller

opponents.Six years later, Rudolph still raves about L

awrence’s coaching abilities.

“After our training sessions were over for the day, he w

ould pull me aside and show

me a few things that everyone else didn’t get to do. H

e always looked out for me,” Taylor said.

Making Adjustments

At their freshman tryouts in 2012, Rudolph, Lake, Caesar Gue

rrero (12), Max Law (12)

and Patrick Rose (12), all major prospects, were all plac

ed on the same practice team. Needless

to say, they won every game, and the coaching staff was puzz

led with what to do with their

abundance of freshman talent.

“Our freshman class was the best class the soccer te

am has ever had here. We had 20

players that could easily go into starting JV,” Lake sai

d.

Rudolph wasn’t picked for junior varsity. He was brought st

raight to varsity, which

showcased Rudolph’s immense talent and ability. “[Being pic

ked for varsity] was a really big

step for me,” Rudolph said. “I had to balance my school

work and soccer. The first couple weeks

after tryouts, I had trouble juggling the two. But throughout

the season, the upperclassmen

guided me and helped me. It kind of gave me a good perspective on

how they had success in

those two areas.”

During the next two years, he would gain the vital skill

s of responsibility, maturity and

time-management. He would be awarded Best of Preps honors

for his spectacular sophomore

season where he scored seven goals. Coming off of an openi

ng round loss in the 2013 State

tournament, Taylor and the rest of the Spartans were p

oised to make it back in 2014. There was

no room for error.