Photo by: Liza King/MSU Athletics
Freshman Feature: Hannah Pimentel
October 14, 2019 | Soccer, HailStateBEAT
by Brian Ogden, Assistant Coordinator/Communications
STARKVILLE – Hannah Pimentel is just a bit different from most soccer players.
She's not much a fan of running and says she's actually better with her hands than her feet. Perhaps, her move to goalkeeper was more destiny than by design.
Pimentel grew up playing football outside Phoenix, Arizona, with her two brothers and her dad. There she worked on her hands and refined her throwing abilities for games against the rest of the neighborhood.
"I ended up as the quarterback because I was the only one who could throw really well," she said. "They all wanted to run. I didn't want to run, so I would just throw it to them."
Her distaste for running carried over to her early soccer career. She played in the midfield and would cramp up or get winded easily and be subbed off. One day her father, who also coached her in soccer, stuck her in net, and she rushed out to make a sliding tackle. That was the day she decided she was a keeper.
Pimentel later spent two years as a cheerleader and continued to take tumbling lessons. Both her cheering and her football play helped make her the goalkeeper she is today.
"I prefer diving over anything," Pimentel said. "There's something about being able to get up super high and do crazy things. Every time I dove, people told me it looked so cool. It's fun, and people get a kick out of it."
At five feet and five inches, Pimentel's not the largest netminder you've ever seen, but she sees that as another opportunity to take to the air.
"You have to dive anyway," she said. "I have to be more explosive and have better footwork. When I was the quarterback, we'd always work on footwork. It has definitely helped me now because I have to have super fast feet to cover the goal since I'm smaller than the others."
Pimentel's unconventional path to college soccer continued throughout her recruiting process. She considers Georgia her home, though she's lived there for the shortest period of time after 12 years in Arizona and a few in Utah.
Her mother grew up in Arkansas and attended Central Arkansas, but regretted not going to school in Fayetteville like Pimentel's aunt. She had told her daughter about the atmosphere at an SEC school, and Pimentel decided early on that she wanted to be in the SEC.
Her father grew up in the California countryside and went to the same high school that Pimentel's teammate Madison Rust did. His best friend lived in the same house the Rust family used to occupy.
"They had already raised us in a super Southern household," Pimentel said. "I grew up saying 'Yes sir, yes ma'am and everything. I had already decided I wanted to go to college in the South. My brothers wanted to move. My dad got a job out of Atlanta, and we decided to move."
Their move to Flowery Branch, Georgia, kickstarted Pimentel's recruitment.
"I didn't start getting recruited until my junior year," she said. "There was no recruitment out of Utah because everyone wanted to stay in Utah or close to there. Once I got to Georgia, I started talking to a bunch of schools, so moving helped."
The "little ball of energy" as her teammates describe her has found a home in Starkville. She considers her fellow goalkeepers the sisters she never had, except for Gabby English.
"She's basically my mom," Pimentel explained.
She still doesn't like to run, but she will if she has to. It all comes back to never wanting to lose. And she has plenty of energy to put into all that she does.
"I will always try to beat everyone that is running against me," she said. "I don't always, but I try my hardest because I don't like to lose. It goes back to diving. I get to put all my energy into that one dive then get back up."
For more information on the Bulldog soccer program, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "HailStateSOC."
STARKVILLE – Hannah Pimentel is just a bit different from most soccer players.
She's not much a fan of running and says she's actually better with her hands than her feet. Perhaps, her move to goalkeeper was more destiny than by design.
Pimentel grew up playing football outside Phoenix, Arizona, with her two brothers and her dad. There she worked on her hands and refined her throwing abilities for games against the rest of the neighborhood.
"I ended up as the quarterback because I was the only one who could throw really well," she said. "They all wanted to run. I didn't want to run, so I would just throw it to them."
Her distaste for running carried over to her early soccer career. She played in the midfield and would cramp up or get winded easily and be subbed off. One day her father, who also coached her in soccer, stuck her in net, and she rushed out to make a sliding tackle. That was the day she decided she was a keeper.
Pimentel later spent two years as a cheerleader and continued to take tumbling lessons. Both her cheering and her football play helped make her the goalkeeper she is today.
"I prefer diving over anything," Pimentel said. "There's something about being able to get up super high and do crazy things. Every time I dove, people told me it looked so cool. It's fun, and people get a kick out of it."
At five feet and five inches, Pimentel's not the largest netminder you've ever seen, but she sees that as another opportunity to take to the air.
"You have to dive anyway," she said. "I have to be more explosive and have better footwork. When I was the quarterback, we'd always work on footwork. It has definitely helped me now because I have to have super fast feet to cover the goal since I'm smaller than the others."
Pimentel's unconventional path to college soccer continued throughout her recruiting process. She considers Georgia her home, though she's lived there for the shortest period of time after 12 years in Arizona and a few in Utah.
Her mother grew up in Arkansas and attended Central Arkansas, but regretted not going to school in Fayetteville like Pimentel's aunt. She had told her daughter about the atmosphere at an SEC school, and Pimentel decided early on that she wanted to be in the SEC.
Her father grew up in the California countryside and went to the same high school that Pimentel's teammate Madison Rust did. His best friend lived in the same house the Rust family used to occupy.
"They had already raised us in a super Southern household," Pimentel said. "I grew up saying 'Yes sir, yes ma'am and everything. I had already decided I wanted to go to college in the South. My brothers wanted to move. My dad got a job out of Atlanta, and we decided to move."
Their move to Flowery Branch, Georgia, kickstarted Pimentel's recruitment.
"I didn't start getting recruited until my junior year," she said. "There was no recruitment out of Utah because everyone wanted to stay in Utah or close to there. Once I got to Georgia, I started talking to a bunch of schools, so moving helped."
The "little ball of energy" as her teammates describe her has found a home in Starkville. She considers her fellow goalkeepers the sisters she never had, except for Gabby English.
"She's basically my mom," Pimentel explained.
She still doesn't like to run, but she will if she has to. It all comes back to never wanting to lose. And she has plenty of energy to put into all that she does.
"I will always try to beat everyone that is running against me," she said. "I don't always, but I try my hardest because I don't like to lose. It goes back to diving. I get to put all my energy into that one dive then get back up."
For more information on the Bulldog soccer program, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "HailStateSOC."
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