Mike Mathews
FROSTBURG — The Mountain Ridge Lady Miners, with a second straight undefeated regular season and the program’s first region championship, repeated as the Cumberland Times-News Area girls soccer champions.
It was another dominating season for the Lady Miners and coach Martha Mauzy, who was recently named the Pepsi-Cola Girls Soccer Coach of the Year. She will receive the award at the 62nd annual Dapper Dan Awards Banquet on Sunday at the Ali Ghan Shrine Club. The dinner begins at 4 p.m., followed by the awards program at 5.
Mauzy will also receive the the team’s Area championship trophy, which is sponsored annually by J-R’s Custom Screenprinting and Embroidery of Frostburg.
It was the second straight perfect regular season for the Lady Miners, who have piled up a 32-2 overall record during their back-to-back Area championship seasons. They are also two-time defending Appalachian Mountain Athletic Conference champs.
This year Mountain Ridge went 14-0 during the regular year and finished 17-1, the only loss coming to eventual Class 1A state champion Loch Raven, 2-1, in the state semifinals.
Repeating as Area champions was one of the team’s pre-season goals, especially with 11 returning seniors and six returning starters from a year ago.
“Right away they had planned to do it again,’’ Mauzy said. “The ultimate goal was to get to the state tournament and to win the state championship. Of course, to get to the state tournament you have to win the region first. Winning it, finally, was a big goal, too.”
A 3-1 win over Boonsboro gave the Miners their first region championship. Mountain Ridge and Northern, in 2007, are the only teams from Allegany and Garrett counties to play in a state tournament.
The Lady Miners dominated the regular season, scoring 68 goals and allowing just seven in 14 games. There were 10 shutouts and only two one-goal games — 3-2 and 4-3 wins over No. 2 Northern.
The impressive play continued into the playoffs, with Mountain Ridge outscoring its three opponents 14-3 in winning the region crown.
“The kids didn’t hesitate, and they didn’t miss a beat as far as wanting and thinking they could have another undefeated regular season,’’ said Mauzy, whose team finished with 83 goals scored against only 12 allowed in the 18 games.
“I have to say this was the best team I’ve ever had,’’ Mauzy said. “They went further than any other team we’ve had, and they probably jelled together better than any team we’ve ever had.
“It was a very unselfish team ... a team of unselfish, hard-working players. Every day they worked so hard on their skills to make themselves better players and a better team.”
Player of the Year Stephanie Fazenbaker and two-time Defensive Player of the Year Quincy Hegeman are juniors and among nine underclassmen returning next year.
The defense finished with an area record 11 shutouts, including eight in a 10-game span to close the regular season. Goalkeeper Heather Shipe led the area in save percentage at .898 (89 saves, 10 goals allowed), and tied the single-season area record with 10 of the shutouts.
Offensively, Fazenbaker finished third in the area with 29 goals, 16 assists and a 4.11 scoring average. Four others were among the top 20 — Hegeman (11 goals, 9 assists); Kayla DeVore (11 goals, 1 assist); Kristin Knotts (5 goals, 7 assists), and Shyler Phillips (8 goals, 4 assists).
Fazenbaker, Hegeman, Shipe, Janelle Walbert and Shyler Phillips were voted to the All-Area first team, released in today’s Sports Magazine.
“This was a very enjoyable group of kids to work with. But really, I can’t think of any team we haven’t enjoyed working with,’’ said Mauzy, whose staff included assistants George Bishields, Gene Lescallette, John Pratt, Steve Amann and Jay Walbert. Mauzy has a 119-29-9 record over 10 years, including 42-7-2 at Mountain Ridge the last three. “We’re very fortunate to have players who are also very good in the classroom. A large percentage of our players are honor roll students. It makes a difference.”
The Frostburg school, which opened three years ago, has won five Area soccer championships — two by the girls and three by the boys.
For Dapper Dan Banquet ticket information, call The Original Sports Shoppe at (301) 722-5490.
Mike Mathews is a Cumberland Times-News sportswriter. Contact Mike Mathews at mmathews@times-news.com.
