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Caity Clark is moving up the bench for McAlester girls soccer.
The 2022 McAlester graduate started as an assistant under Ashley Todd last season and now, with Todd’s departure, she will take over the program she was playing for just a few years ago.
After graduating, Clark attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas for two years before graduating in 2024 and making her way back to McAlester.
Clark said her roots run deep in McAlester and she wanted to be part of the school which shaped her into who she is today.
“I loved growing up here, I loved being a Buffalo,” Clark said. “I had great teachers, I had great coaches so my memories of McAlester have always been really good. Being part of the soccer program was a very important part of my life, it was the highlight of my life up to this point.
“Getting the opportunity to come back and be part of that again and help the girls build those same memories and hopefully have the same amount of joy and fun with it that I did is what keeps me here and brought me back.”
Clark is taking over a program on an upswing.
The Lady Buffaloes won eight games in 2026, up from five games the season before. Clark believes she can continue that momentum.
“They were kind of coming off a rough season two season ago so we had to shift some things around but the girls worked really hard and we started building a really positive environment that I think they really thrived in,” Clark said. “We flipped the season around and had a winning season. I think we can really only go up from here.”
Clark has a history of leading U10 and U12 teams but this will be the oldest group of players she’s worked with yet. Next season she’s anticipating three seniors, two juniors and a slew of sophomores and freshmen.
“It’ll be a young group but they’re really hard workers and they have a lot of passion and I think we can just put in that work in summer pride and offseason and work out some of the kinks that got us into some trouble last season, I think we’ll find success,” Clark said.
In her first season as an assistant for the Lady Buffaloes, Clark said she learned what her role needs to be with her players.
“I think it was just a big learning curve of, what does each specific girl need and how can I be that for them?” Clark said.
Another role Clark said she needs to play is empowering her players to have confidence.
“I think we’ve started building a really good foundation this past season and we just want to keep building on that,” Clark said. “Building up the girls’ confidence a little bit. Decision making is something we’ve got to work quite a bit on.”
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The 2022 McAlester graduate started as an assistant under Ashley Todd last season and now, with Todd’s departure, she will take over the program she was playing for just a few years ago.
After graduating, Clark attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas for two years before graduating in 2024 and making her way back to McAlester.
Clark said her roots run deep in McAlester and she wanted to be part of the school which shaped her into who she is today.
“I loved growing up here, I loved being a Buffalo,” Clark said. “I had great teachers, I had great coaches so my memories of McAlester have always been really good. Being part of the soccer program was a very important part of my life, it was the highlight of my life up to this point.
“Getting the opportunity to come back and be part of that again and help the girls build those same memories and hopefully have the same amount of joy and fun with it that I did is what keeps me here and brought me back.”
Clark is taking over a program on an upswing.
The Lady Buffaloes won eight games in 2026, up from five games the season before. Clark believes she can continue that momentum.
“They were kind of coming off a rough season two season ago so we had to shift some things around but the girls worked really hard and we started building a really positive environment that I think they really thrived in,” Clark said. “We flipped the season around and had a winning season. I think we can really only go up from here.”
Clark has a history of leading U10 and U12 teams but this will be the oldest group of players she’s worked with yet. Next season she’s anticipating three seniors, two juniors and a slew of sophomores and freshmen.
“It’ll be a young group but they’re really hard workers and they have a lot of passion and I think we can just put in that work in summer pride and offseason and work out some of the kinks that got us into some trouble last season, I think we’ll find success,” Clark said.
In her first season as an assistant for the Lady Buffaloes, Clark said she learned what her role needs to be with her players.
“I think it was just a big learning curve of, what does each specific girl need and how can I be that for them?” Clark said.
Another role Clark said she needs to play is empowering her players to have confidence.
“I think we’ve started building a really good foundation this past season and we just want to keep building on that,” Clark said. “Building up the girls’ confidence a little bit. Decision making is something we’ve got to work quite a bit on.”
Continue reading...
