By Tommy Howard

thoward@gtowntimes.com

Chandler Murphy has played organized soccer with a bunch of her friends since the second grade.

All that time and practice and competition paid off for her and her family on Thursday morning as she signed for a scholarship with Wingate University near Charlotte, N.C.

She will be playing women's soccer at Wingate University next fall under the direction of Coach Gary Curneen and Asst. Coach Faith Bicknell.

An outside midfielder, Murphy has played for the Coast FA soccer club and for Waccamaw High School at Pawleys Island.

She's also a volunteer assistant coach with the Georgetown County YMCA U10 Soccer Team.

Quite a resume

Her soccer resume is one to make her family quite proud. She's been selected by SCSOCCER.com as one of the top 22 girls in the state. She's also been selected for the High School Sports Report All State Team, the All State 2A Team, Toast of the Coast, All Region Team, and that's just for 2009.

She's been picked in 2007 and 2008 for comparable achievements, and has ranked number one and number four in several categories.

The Waccamaw Warriors Team was ranked first in 2008 regular season play.

With the Club Coast FA soccer program, Murphy has also achieved premier recognitions for several years.

She's played soccer with the Orange Crush Team and Girls Classic Team and earned recognition throughout her years with that program since 1997.

She's gone to summer camps at the University of North Carolina, USC, Clemson, USC-Upstate and Limestone College.

Playing 'forever'

"I've been playing soccer 'forever'," she told the Georgetown Times after happily signing her Letter of Intent.

She started in second grade with the Orange Crush team. Her dad Ken Murphy was the coach and put the program together, so she and a group of friends have been playing together ever since.

Ken Murphy played soccer and wanted his daughter and other kids to have a chance to enjoy the game, so he coached.

Coach Patrick Piscitelli has led the Girls Challenge Team/Orange Crush for several years.

"He took me around to eight different colleges, introduced me to everyone. He's been my coach for five years now," Chandler Murphy said.

"He's really helped a lot."

For his part, Piscitelli said her parents did everything.

"It was a family decision. They did a lot of work for her, helped her."

Why Wingate?

After visiting all those schools, Murphy decided on Wingate University.

Murphy is leaning towards a major in elementary education, though she's also considering broadcast journalism at Wingate.

"I felt this fit me the most. The girls seemed really sweet. And they have a really good education program," she said.

That's something Piscitelli was glad to hear. He's a graduate of Wingate himself.

"I'm excited for her, to see her go where I've been.

"She will fit in well and make an impact in a short period of time. She's a special kid," Piscitelli said.

Brian Brennan has been her Waccamaw High School coach since 9th grade.

"He's been instrumental in my enjoying soccer," Murphy said. "He's really helped me a lot, my whole high school career."

Chandler Murphy is the daughter of Ken and Donna Murphy, a physical education teacher and a banker, respectively. She has one sister, Lawson Murphy. The family lives at Pawleys Island.