How Bellefonte girls’ soccer reached ‘a new level,’ completed its historic season

It might be the beginning of a new era in Bellefonte.

Historically, Bellefonte girls’ soccer has had its ups and downs. In the most recent seasons, the Lady Raiders failed to finish over .500 — last exceeding the mark in the 2018-19 season. With that, coach Stacey Miller decided it was time to work and improve team culture, and it paid off big-time.

This past season, the Lady Raiders set numerous marks en route to their first district title in program history.

Team culture has been a big point of emphasis around the world now — it’s hard for teams to dominate the pitch without it. While having quality players is great, nothing matters if they aren’t able to play as one cohesive unit, and senior keeper Keira Whitman was able to see this in her fourth year with the program.

“We are very much a team that doesn’t give up,” Whitman told the CDT. “This year, I think it was just very different.”

The team shared the theme of perseverance, which goes a long way on a team when it goes down in a match.

During the offseason, the Lady Raiders held their summer camp and it allowed them to come together and establish relationships before the season. Miller also instilled weekly check-ins into the team’s routine, which gave them a chance to communicate and work on their goals with the coaching staff.

Senior Mackenzie Mamolen and Whitman agreed that was a helpful addition, and an example of just some of the many things that their head coach did to prepare them for a record-setting season.

“She’s put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into our season,” Mamolen said. “The amount of time and effort that she put in to make sure we had a good season is just astounding to me.”

The blood, sweat and tears not only paid off for Bellefonte, but for its sideline supervisor herself. With a 6-1 victory over Clearfield in the last game of the regular season, Miller collected her 200th victory with the program.

In typical coach fashion, Miller was locked into the game and wasn’t aware of the mark. When the contest had gotten out of reach, her assistant told her about the milestone and Miller was in disbelief.

When it finally sunk in, she quickly deflected credit to her players.

“Really, the girls are the ones that go out and do the work to make this happen,” Miller said. “My part is minimal.”

For the players, Miller’s part was certainly more than minimal. Team culture starts at the top with the head coach before moving down to the captains.

Mamolen and Whitman are two of the team’s four captains and were hand-selected by Miller to lead their team for the 2023 season.

The senior defender, Mamolen, felt that there was a method to the madness, as she pointed out the “insane” leadership quality that Whitman has before noting the openness trait that she possesses herself.

It meant a lot for them that the coach whom they simply call “Miller” had chosen them for this role.

“It means a lot to us because it also shows our hard work throughout the years,” Whitman said.

The captain duo had their fair share of moments in their four years, and it all came full circle on Halloween in the District 6 Class AAA Championship game against Hollidaysburg.

In the contest, Whitman only surrendered one goal in regulation before a last-second goal allowed them to enter overtime. She then showcased a dominant performance in double-overtime, playing in all 30 extra minutes on the pitch before the teams went to a final shootout to determine a winner.

With destiny at reach and Mamolen’s high school career wrapping up, it was time for her to give a grand finale. And she did — sneaking one past the goalkeeper and winning Bellefonte’s first district title.

“(It felt) honestly amazing,” Mamolen said. “We’ve worked so hard the past four years and this year was finally the year.”

Now that their chapters have concluded — the team fell to Bradford 2-1 on Nov. 4 — Mamolen plans to continue playing collegiately, while Whitman would like to join a club team at Penn State and prioritize her academics.

Even with their departures, Miller said that her captains, along with the rest of the 2023 squad, have set the standard and now the Lady Raiders will look to win more district championships.

“All these girls this year took the program to a new level,” Miller said. “Next year we’ll want to see ourselves back in the district championship game again.”

This story was originally published November 10, 2023 at 8:00 AM.