CUMBERLAND — It was a storybook start to Allegany head coach Andy Farrell’s tenure.
Farrell’s Campers went the entire month of September without allowing a goal, pitching nine straight shutouts to begin what would end up as Allegany’s fourth unbeaten regular season in school history.
An injury to its leading scorer and an upset loss in the playoffs ended Allegany’s campaign at 12-1-2, but Farrell was selected as area Coach of the Year for his efforts.
“We went with a team-first mentality,” Farrell said. “It’s about the team. There’s no way that our successes as a program would have happened without the buy-in from them.
“These are young girls and young athletes, and there have been five coaches for them (in four years). … It’s a testament to what they were able to do. I had a phenomenal coaching staff behind me. We had a phenomenal junior varsity team. And I think all of that showed that when you combine it all together, it’s a recipe for success.”
The Campers’ 12-0-2 regular season joined the 2004, ‘05 and ‘07 Allegany squads to garner undefeated campaigns under Bob Langan.
Allegany won the Western Maryland Athletic Conference championship with a 7-0-1 record and went 1-0-1 to state semifinalist and area champion Mountain Ridge in two meetings.
The Campers beat the Miners 2-0 on Sept. 5 and drew them 1-1 on Oct. 13, the latter without the area’s leading scorer Madalyn Bucy, who was lost for the season with a knee injury.
According to Farrell, the groundwork was laid before the year.
“I met with the girls right after I got hired for the job, and I think there was a lot of worry there because of so many coaches,” Farrell said. “The first thing I told them was we’re going to have two things that we focus on this year, and that’s positivity and accountability.
“Sometimes accountability might come across that it’s negative, but it’s never going to be that way. And we knew that no matter what we did, if we stayed positive and we held each other accountable — I told them I want them to hold me accountable, I’m going to hold them accountable — that we would have a successful season.”
Allegany scored 61 goals and allowed just three in the regular season. Two of those goals were allowed once Bucy suffered her season-ending injury.
Fort Hill’s Sadie Hamilton was the lone opponent to score against the Campers with Bucy.
“We had short-term goals, midterm goals and long-term goals,” Farrell said. “We did a tremendous amount of team bonding. We had team dinners, we had girls write stuff about themselves. We put them in uncomfortable situations and had them get up there and talk about themselves.
“I think that helped because the girls were able to say, ‘OK, I’m going to go through the same thing that the next girl is going to go through and the next girl.’”
Bucy scored 25 goals and had 10 assists for 60 points in 13 games during her freshman campaign.
PennWest California signee Ella Shade added 11 goals and four assists, midfielder Myia Miller had a team-high 15 assists and scored five times, Harper Farrell tallied six goals and three assists, and Desi Hilton finished with three goals and seven assists.
Goalkeeper Brilynn Beatty had 11 shutouts, and center back Ellena Nelson anchored the defense.
While Allegany will miss its senior class, the future is bright for a Campers team that played underclassmen all over the field.
“We’re losing four seniors,” coach Farrell said. “They laid the foundation. We have a great outpouring of support from the middle-school level. They had their first all-girls Braddock team. The support from the administration is there.
“We want our last game of the season to be a win, and we want that to be in the state championship.”