CUMBERLAND — Allegany debuted its possession-building style at Greenway Avenue Stadium on Tuesday, and it looked to be in midseason form.
The Campers controlled more than 80% of the possession, freshman Madalyn Bucy showcased her lightning-quick speed and Myia Miller tallied a hat trick, leading No. 2 Allegany to an 8-0 romp of No. 4 Fort Hill.
“First game, definitely had some things we need to work on, but overall, very happy,” first-year Allegany head coach Andy Farrell said. “We’re starting a new style of play, so seeing the girls adapt to that’s been good. I know in the past, Allegany hasn’t played much of a possession style.”
Allegany improved to 2-0-1 with the victory, its first regular-season contest after a tournament in Brunswick over the weekend.
Miller added an assist to her hat trick, Bucy finished with two goals and an assist, Harper Farrell, Rylie McCullough and Elexa Mazuran added a goal apiece, Ryleigh Nelson garnered two assists, and Ally Ricker and Ella Shade (PennWest California commit) had one each.
Fort Hill fell to 1-2 after its defeat to open Western Maryland Athletic Conference play.
“Execution is key,” Fort Hill head coach Dave Neff said. “We didn’t execute well on much of anything today. We didn’t do the simple things real well. Easy passes, easy communication. We weren’t getting in position off the ball. Those things hurt you against a team that can expose you like that.
“And then we also were having the same issues that we faced all preseason, which is we’re battling a lot of injuries right now, so we didn’t have a lot of legs to put on that field.”
Fort Hill’s legs were further tested by Allegany’s frequent subbing, which began in the early moments of the match and continued until Miller’s goal with 2:28 to play that gave the Campers the 8-0 mercy-rule win.
Miller, a senior, isn’t typically a frequent goal-scorer, instead playing the role of distributor. She scored once on a set piece, heading a Nelson corner into goal, and twice on the other end of crosses by Bucy and Nelson.
“She’s a coach’s dream,” Farrell said of Miller. “Obviously, she can pretty much do it all. I think if I even put her in goal, she’d be a heck of a goalie. But her leadership, that’s why she was voted the captain this year. She’s the sole captain of our team and she definitely anchors us.”
Bucy scored Allegany’s first goal, outpacing Fort Hill’s backline with a run down the left side.
The freshman’s second score came with her left foot to open the second-half scoring.
At times, Bucy appeared to be playing at a different speed than everybody else on the field.
“I’ve been coaching Madalyn and watching her play for a long time,” Farrell said. “She’s just built different. It is like she’s on a different level. Her speed is unmatched, her foot skills are unmatched, and it’s gonna be very hard for defenses to focus on us this year.”
Allegany finished with a 31-4 edge in shots (17-1 on goal) and 8-1 margin on corner kicks.
Alco keeper Brilynn Beatty made one save for the cleansheet. Fort Hill’s Jemma Stafford made nine stops.
Allegany is at Hampshire (1-4-1) on Friday at 4 p.m.
Fort Hill will look to get back in the win column when it hosts Petersburg, West Virginia, on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
“Their effort was good,” Neff said of his team. “Honestly, first half, I felt like we could have got away in the second half and brought the game back in into an opportunity for us to win. However, tired legs got exposed.”