When the Richmond Hill girls soccer team takes the field next spring in pursuit of its fourth consecutive regional championship, there will be a new face leading the charge.
Wildcats Athletic Director Stacey Bennett announced Monday that Shawn Allen, currently the boys and girls soccer coach at Richmond Hill Middle School, will replace Kelly Anderson, who resigned after two seasons.
Anderson served as an assistant coach for three years under Dorothy Biron Vonglis at Richmond Hill before taking over the program. Biron Vonglish went 37-9 in three seasons, the last team going 18-3 and winning the Region 2-6A title and advancing to the Elite Eight.
Under Coach Anderson, the Wildcats never let up, going undefeated in the regular season after being promoted to Class 7A. Richmond Hill, 31-2-2 overall, finished 16-1-2 this season, losing to North Paulding 0-2 in the second round of the state playoffs. Last year's team was 15-1, including a 4-0 loss to eventual state champion Denmark in the state quarterfinals.
Ironically, Bennett said, Allen was the boys head coach at North Paulding before coming to Richmond Hill.
Defense was a trademark of Coach Anderson's teams, and the Wildcats posted 26 shutouts in 35 games while allowing just 16 goals, eight each season. Her first team scored 68 goals offensively, but she increased that to 102 last season.
The Wildcats only had three seniors, so Allen will be inheriting a team that returns nearly everyone. Goalie Kamryn Martinez is a rising junior who started as a freshman.
