LOS ANGELES -- Nick Zimmerman might never forget the call.
The Mississippi State women’s soccer coach, then an assistant, was Christmas decoration shopping with his girlfriend, now fiance. But he hardly contributed to the ornament search as he learned the news:
Macey Hodge was ready to return to soccer.
Hodge, who was once committed to playing for Vanderbilt, stepped away from soccer during her senior year of high school and attended West Georgia. However, as she devised a return, Zimmerman knew he wanted to add the once-standout talent.
They spoke for roughly 45 minutes, with the coach returning to a shopping cart full of Christmas decorations.
“I said, ‘Listen, we're ready,’” Zimmerman said. “It’s a little bit of a roll of the dice on both our ends.”
Zimmerman couldn’t promise on-field success early on, but he promised development. And he’d made a successful pitch that propelled Mississippi State women’s soccer into almost unimaginable heights.
Joining Mississippi State also restarted Hodge’s prospering career, which she is about to embark on professionally with Angel City after signing in December 2024.
“It became the best decision I've ever made and a good one for them as well,” Hodge said. “It was kind of just like a shot in the dark for both of us that really ended up working out for both parties.”
Hodge led a Mississippi State team that finished 2-3-3 in the SEC in her first season, 2020, to a 10-0 conference record during their final year, 2024.
The spry midfielder became a star for Mississippi State, with Zimmerman recalling children dressing as her for Halloween. And it was clear why:
Hodge won SEC Midfielder of the Year in her last season as the team went undefeated in conference play. She also started every game in which she appeared.
Now, Hodge wants to replicate her program-changing success in Los Angeles for a team that has made the playoffs once since its inception and is 23-18-29 all-time.
“If I was going into a program or that won it all and was on top of the world, I would be a little more concerned,” Hodge said of joining Angel City. “With the potential that they have, and the potential that I've seen — with the staff and the conversations that I had — there's so much growth to be had.”
Angel City Football Club
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Hodge’s path wasn’t linear.
Hodge said she struggled with her mental health during high school. She felt like soccer was one of her few positives, but she added she didn’t know how to cope with other problems.
In the spring, before she was supposed to arrive at Vanderbilt, Hodge realized she felt she lacked a support system. So, she decided to step away from soccer, believing that would end her serious playing career.
Hodge’s mom, Kandi Vaughn, said Hodge wrote a letter that said, ‘I just want to be Macey, not Macey the soccer player.’
“Soccer, at that point, felt like the only thing going for me,” Hodge said. “When you put all of your worth into one thing, everything kind of snowballs when you don't have your life together outside of that.”
Hodge estimated that she had not touched a soccer ball for six months. But after visiting childhood friend Laney Steed — who played for Florida — she began weighing returning to the sport.
She spent a week with Steed, watching training sessions and a match, and reflected on the experience during a music-less drive home.
“I was like, ‘wow, okay, being in this environment, watching the games, I at least feel like I wish I would have tried,’” Hodge said. “I wish I would have at least put myself in the environment and given myself a chance.”
So, Hodge began considering programs from coaches she worked with or knew, landing on Mississippi State after the lengthy discussion with Zimmerman.
Angel City Football Club
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College soccer wasn’t easy at first for Hodge.
When she took the pitch for the first time, she said she was unfit for college soccer. Zimmerman said he remembers that training session as if it were yesterday.
It was an evening practice, and he noticed that Hodge seemed unconfident. Fresh off a break from the sport, she played timidly, immediately passing the ball when she received it.
But Hodge was still competing, slowly building her confidence. Meanwhile, she surrounded herself with upperclassmen like Alyssa D’Aloise and discovered how to find her footing.
Hodge was committed to growing her fitness and regularly topped the team’s practice metrics.
“You saw it on the training field, in rehab, when we did strength and conditioning and fitness — Macey always wanted to win,” Zimmerman said. “You always had that one player on the field that regardless of how it was going, you still knew that she was going to hopefully be the force that keeps driving you forward.”
To improve results, Hodge said Mississippi State wanted to have a “blue-collar mentality” where their opponents would never outwork them. They set core values to encourage communication and grit among the squad.
Those aspirations took a couple of years to be fulfilled, but Hodge’s group soon thrived. By her final season, the team was extremely tight, and even the freshman and sophomores appeared to be following in their footsteps.
“The last group that I was a part of there embraced the team first mentality,” Hodge said. “People celebrated each other and each other's successes. Even if they were competing for the same spot, we knew that whoever ended up on the field was for the best of the team.”
As Mississippi State began improving, what started as a simple return to a sport Hodge loved turned into a desire to become a professional.
Zimmerman said Hodge became hyper-focused as NWSL aspirations entered her mind. She stayed at the school over the summer to maximize her talents and fully utilize the university’s resources.
“Her just making that decision, ‘Okay, this is what I want. I'm just going to go, I'm just going to give myself into it and be really intentional,’ that was really the coolest part,” Zimmerman said. “Fitness and the confidence, once she hit those two, everything else flowed into her development.”
Angel City Football Club
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Hodge’s talent was always evident. But her dedication was even more apparent.
Vaughn said Hodge would sit in the car and wait for her parents to ensure she would be early to practice.
One time, when Hodge was about 13 years old, Vaughn said she broke her tibia during a match. She couldn’t continue but repeatedly begged to stay on the field.
It’s just the type of person she is.
“There was always a ball at her feet,” Vaughn said. “Rain, cold, you name it, any kind of weather she would be practicing. It didn't matter.”
In Hodge’s senior year of high school, she was almost always the first one on the pitch and the last one to leave, her coach Jason Cann said.
She and Cann would compete in crossbar-hitting games before practice while the rest of the team trickled in, as Hodge was usually at the field about an hour early. After practice, Hodge sometimes wanted to stay so long that Cann told her she had to leave so he could see his family at home.
“I have a ton of respect and admiration for Macey,” Cann said. “She's the hardest-working player I've ever coached by a long shot.”
Cann said Hodge was the best ball winner he’d ever watched in high school. She excelled across the pitch but sometimes got frustrated by players who didn’t hold themselves to her high standard.
Hodge said her competitiveness drove her to push her teammates to improve, occasionally to a fault. But, she added, she has grown as a leader, learning to balance emotions with a desire to uplift her peers.
“One thing I loved about her as a coach was she was not afraid to push her teammates a little bit if she saw somebody kind of slacking off,” Cann said. “She was the one who would, who would say, ‘pick it up. Let's work harder. We’ve got goals to meet.’”
Off the field, Vaughn said Hodge worked at Smoothie King and Kroger when she was in high school. Both times, Hodge was promoted to leadership roles.
Vaughn said that a 16-year-old Hodge became a floor leader at Smoothie King and was responsible for closing the store, among other tasks. Similarly, she oversaw the self-checkout lines within a month of working at Kroger.
Even with her dog, Celo, Vaughn calls Hodge “one of the best dog moms” because of her dedication to caring for the French Bulldog. Vaughn said she buys the best food, provides toys and frequently walks Celo.
“She's always just been the one to follow,” Vaughn said. “And she led by example. Others just saw what good she had, that it just drew people to her.”
Angel City Football Club
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Such dedication could be useful for Hodge in her next challenge with Angel City.
Hodge said she chose Angel City because of the team’s location and club values. She said that meant celebrating various cultures and sexualities.
While Hodge enjoyed Mississippi State, she felt the university’s community lacked a similar embrace of diversity.
“To stand for a club that celebrates all different types of people and supports all different communities is extremely important to me because that's something that I wasn't a part of for the past couple of years,” Hodge said.
Hodge brings her program-building knowledge to Angel City, a team that has recently set values. She said recently hired sporting director Mark Parsons immediately sought to instill a culture in Los Angeles, but he left the work to the players.
Hodge said the team established the ‘win circle,’ which means the team focuses on winning the task at hand. Everyone wants to be victorious, whether it’s a training session, game or drill, creating a highly competitive — but also supportive — environment.
“(Parsons) said, at the end of the day, this is your team, and you have to establish what that culture is going to look like from you guys,” Hodge said.
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Hodge drew a portrait of forward Sydney Leroux when she was a teenager, Vaughn said.
So, when she arrived at Angel City training, it was intimidating to be surrounded by some of her idols, like forward Christen Press and Leroux.
“I would get around them and I'd be kind of giggly because I'm like, ‘well, this is, like, actually not real life,” Hodge said.
But after spending time around the famous players, she said she feels she has learned a lot from them. Leroux, particularly, she said, cares about young players through coffee runs and walks together.
Leroux announced Sunday that she was stepping away from soccer for her mental health.
“I'm so excited just to learn from them,” Hodge said. “(They were) icons growing up for me, so (I want to) just soak it all in, listen and do all the things.”
As Hodge develops through early lessons, she has already made an impact. In Angel City’s 2-1 win against the Portland Thorns at the Coachella Valley Invitational, she won the ball and dished an assist on the game-securing goal.
Hodge’s impact has touched many destinations. At Mississippi State, Zimmerman said he is excited for the next generation of the team, crediting players like Hodge for paving the way.
“It gives these players hope,” Zimmerman said. “But also, if you do things right and stay the course, then good things will happen.”
Hodge could seek a similar legacy in the NWSL.
“I want to have a long, fruitful career,” Hodge said. “hopefully, this is just the beginning… Anything on top of those two things is going to be cherry on top.”
