Mike Mathews
ACCIDENT — Records, the old adage says, are made to be broken.
There may be an exception to the rule in the case of Northern Garrett’s Adria Graham, who completed her high school soccer career as the most prolific scorer in area history.
Records — both single season and career — fell like dominoes during the senior season of the four-year starter, who was voted the Cumberland Times-News Offensive Player of the Year for the third year in a row by area coaches.
She will receive her award at the 62nd Dapper Dan Awards Banquet on Sunday, Jan. 31, at the Ali Ghan Shrine Club. The dinner begins at 4 p.m. and the awards program starts at 5.
“Adria is a first-class athlete who has given all she has to this game and her team over the last four years,’’ said Northern coach Jeff Graham. “This year we asked even more of her as she was our playmaker in the center of the field. We needed the ball at her feet and she accepted the challenge with enthusiasm.
“Her true strength lies in her ability to find the feet of teammates off the ball. She sees the field well and created a lot of scoring opportunities for the team as evidenced by the number of assists she put up each year.”
Northern went 13-3 overall and scored 109 goals, an average of nearly seven per game, and Graham easily won the Area and Appalachian Mountain Athletic Conference scoring titles for the third straight year with numbers that likely will stand for a long time.
With 36 goals, 24 assists and 96 points, she led the Area with a 6.00 scoring average, breaking her own Area record of 5.37 set during her junior year.
The four-time All-Area and all-conference star won this year’s AMAC crown by scoring 23 goals and assisting on 17 others in just eight games for 63 points and a whopping 7.87 average.
All but one of the area’s major scoring records belong to Graham, who has made a verbal commitment to continue her career at Frostburg State.
She is No. 1 in career goals (112), career assists (68), career points (292) and career scoring average (4.49). A list of top 5 leaders in single-season and career scoring is in today’s Scoreboard page.
This year, Graham set the single-season records for assists (24), points (96), and average (6.00). She scored on five free kicks, had one header goal, a header assist and two corner kick assists. Eight of her goals came on shots from outside the penalty area.
“Not only was Adria able to frequently beat opponents off the dribble, she also ripped off several hard goals from long distance,’’ said coach Graham. “Leading the area in scoring often creates the disadvantage of constantly being marked by opponents, but Adria was always able to step up her play to meet the challenges.”
The only record not broken by Graham, who did not miss a minute of a game in four years because of injury, was single-season goals. That is held held by Bishop Walsh’s Lauren Zapf, who scored 40 during a 21-game season in 1998. Graham’s 36 goals this year places her second on that list.
“Adria could have probably broken that record this year as well, but we pulled her back and took her off the field in several games when she had already scored several goals,’’ said coach Graham. “She really wasn’t concerned about the single-season records and knew they would naturally happen with quality play.”
Not coincidentally, Graham’s record-setting career came during the most successful four-year span in Northern girls soccer history.
The Huskies rolled up a 52-11-2 overall record and a 26-4-2 mark in league play during Graham’s four seasons. They won one area title and also a region championship in 2007, when they became the first girls team from Allegany or Garrett counties to play in a state soccer tournament.
Graham is also an excellent student and a member of the National Honor Society with a 4.0 academic standing.
For Dapper Dan Banquet ticket information, call The Original Sports Shoppe at (301) 722-5490.
Mike Mathews is a Cumberland Times-News sportswriter. He can be reached at Contact Mike Mathews at mmathews@times-news.com.
