Many fall sports teams struggled with the reality of a very limited summer workout schedule.
North Montgomery girls’ soccer wasn’t one of them.
In 2020, the Chargers completed a fourth-straight season with eight wins or more after starting the year by winning six of their first seven games.
In the locker room it was 11 returning starters all working together, but the reality was it was two offseason leaders and those same two star players that flashed on the pitch in front of large crowds all through the fall despite the pandemic.
Sophomore Teegan Bacon and senior Sidney Campbell led the Chargers to another record-breaking season. They are the 2020 Journal Review Girls Soccer Co-Players of the Year.
“As a coach, you dream of having even one player like a Sidney or a Teegan,” North Montgomery coach Julie Hodges said. “The talent part of that is obvious. However, as a coach, you need talent with a good attitude that is going to put the team first. You can have the most talented player in the world, but if they have a bad attitude or only care about themselves then the team will not be successful.
“So, to have two players in your program at the same time who are extremely talented, but care more about the team’s success and put the work in to be successful, that is what changes your program.”
Campbell has helped turned the tides of the program, both measured by success and a change of culture.
Her class posted a program record 35 wins in four seasons, while she set career records for most assists (29), most goals (68), and most points (165).
“You have players break school records over the years,” Hodges, the longtime coach of the Chargers, said. “Usually, it is one or two records in a part of their game the player is very good at. However, to own every single offensive record in every category is amazing. It wasn’t just scoring, it was assists, and it was consistency. She has been the best athlete that has come through the program, and she was able to back it up with the attitude, work ethic, and skill.”
In 2019, Campbell set a single season record with 19 goals.
A record that stood for just one year.
Enter Bacon — the area’s next premier player.
The sophomore broke Campbell’s record with 22 goals in 2020.
“I have watched Sidney for the last however many years and she’s always been a role model of mine,” Bacon said. “‘I want to be good like Sidney,’ and I think it helps having role models like her.”
Campbell didn’t take a step back either, adding 18 goals. The Chargers set a program record with 58 goals in 2020.
And was there any animosity between Campbell and Bacon for the younger star now owning the record? Not a chance.
“No, oh my goodness,” Campbell laughed. “Just super proud because we are such good friends. Records are made to be broken, so anytime that can happen I’m super happy to see it happen, because all it does is build our program as North Montgomery soccer and makes the team better.”
On the field the duo is each other’s biggest supporter.
“When one of us would score, we would hug each other,” Bacon said. “That’s just what we did and that was the best part.”
Off the field they were equally the same heartbeat of the Charger program.
“Our team atmosphere,” Campbell said. “Just the positivity that every single person brought to the team and how everyone got along. We were friends on and off the field and I think that led to a successful season. Not just our record, but how we treat each other on the team.”
And it all came down to the common theme of staying positive. Through any obstacle and despite all the ups and downs a crazy 2020 season brought.
“I know that we say it a lot, but I think the positive reinforcement was the biggest game-changer for us,” Bacon said. “I think it’s hard to be hard on yourself when you have 20 some other girls constantly putting you up and making you feel better.”
As Campbell leaves behind her own legacy, she leaves a North Montgomery program in a better place than she found it.
“I would say the atmosphere of the team has changed significantly, and I think that is to do with the personalties we have on the team and the leadership style that has kind of changed it,” she said. “I would hope that the girls on the team could continue that kind of positive attitude and encouragement.”
And the changing of guard from one star to the next will be seamless. Both in talent and leadership.
“I think it helps with the momentum I’ve had the last two years to move and keep going,” Bacon said. “But I just want to keep playing how we’ve been playing. We like to push the idea of positive feedback and pushing each other to our limits that we know we can reach, and I feel like if we keep that momentum we can continue to be successful.”
The book is officially closed on another historic season for the North Montgomery girls’ soccer program — where two equal stars never let one ever feel more important than the other.
