Early life and college career
Hodge was raised in Douglasville, Georgia, with two sisters; her mother, Kandi Vaughn; and her stepfather, Michael. She began playing soccer with Southern Soccer Academy at age eight. She attended Robert S. Alexander High School, where she was named the most valuable player on the soccer team in her freshman, sophomore, and senior years. Hodge was rated as a two-star recruit by TopDrawerSoccer and committed to Vanderbilt after her sophomore year. [1] [2]
Shortly before graduating in 2019, Hodge decided to quit soccer for the sake of her mental health. She was dealing with anxiety due to a combination of expectations; her birth father's struggle with addiction, which often made him absent from her life; and her sister's kidney disease diagnosis, from which she later recovered. Hodge instead enrolled in the University of West Georgia and got a job as a cashier at Kroger. Within a semester, however, she felt ready to return to soccer and decided to transfer to Mississippi State at the start of 2020, a program where her club coach knew several assistant coaches. [1] [2]
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Hodge worked herself back into form and came off the bench in the 2020 season opener for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. She started every other game of the season, being used across the positions of attacking midfielder, defensive midfielder, and center back. She was voted one of the team's captains by her second season. [2] In the 2022 season, she started every game and helped Mississippi State secure their first NCAA tournament match win in program history. [1] [3] In the 2023 season, she earned first-team All-SEC honors as she led Mississippi State to their first SEC tournament semifinal appearance and the third round of the NCAA tournament, where they lost to eventual finalists Stanford. [1] [4]
Hodge was central to Mississippi State's breakout 2024 season as they went 10–0 in conference play, allowing only two goals in ten games, to claim the program's first SEC regular-season title. [5] [6] The Bulldogs received a top seed in the NCAA tournament and equaled their best-ever showing, falling in the third round against Notre Dame when they conceded at home for the first time all year. [7] For her performance, Hodge was named first-team All-American, first-team All-SEC, and the SEC Midfielder of the Year. [6] She finished her five years in Starkville with 97 appearances (96 starts), the most in program history. [1] [5]
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