Fountain Hills High School soccer coach Alison Mabery and player Leah Carillo have once again found themselves earning a bit of post-season recognition, with the former being named the AZ Central Sports’ Small Schools Coach of the Year and the latter earning recognition as the Small Schools Player of the Year.

In case it feels like you are experiencing a bit of déjà vu, these are not the same recognitions this pair was recognized for in the March 23 edition of The Times.

On top of earning the section title and the 2016 Division III state championship, this year’s girls soccer team brought home a lot of honors. Among those were Carillo’s recognitions on the all-section and all-division teams. Carillo was also named the sectional Player of the Year, with coach Mabery bringing home the honor of section Coach of the Year.

Now they have these two additional honors to add to the growing list, and both ladies are pretty humble about the whole experience.

Mabery

Looking back on the 2015-16 season, coach Mabery said this was possibly the most challenging season for her.

“After winning state in 2014 and being the runner-up in 2015, there is a lot of pressure for continued success,” she said.

“It is also very challenging to keep players motivated and mentally prepared for each game. We struggled with injuries and there were times when we focused all of our time on recovery versus tactics.”

Fortunately, Mabery said the Falcons bout into the strategy, injured players came back healthy and the team peaked at exactly the right time; playoffs.

When asked why the local ladies respond so well to her coaching, Mabery said she thinks it’s because they all know that she has been in their shoes before.

“I’ve played at the collegiate level and understand where they are coming from as a player,” she added.

“I also think, having coached some of these girls for six years, the expectations stay the same year to year and we just build from where we left off the prior year.”

Mabery said the hardest thing about coaching is listening to other professionals when you’re stuck.

“As adults, we want to be able to figure it out on our own but, when we take our ego out of the equation and listen to other people who know what they are talking about, we can learn so much,” she said.

“It’s exactly what being part of a team is all about.”

Mabery said she was excited when she found out she had been named the Small School Coach of the Year, saying that she was especially honored knowing how many other great schools and coaches there are around the state.

“It’s an honor I am very proud of, as such a large part of my life revolves around soccer, coaching and this varsity program,” she said.

“After all of the hard work of really coaching these girls for six years, it has paid off. We have won two state titles, I’ve been named Coach of the Year twice and Leah Carillo has been named Player of the Year twice…I’m thrilled to be named to this honor.”

Carillo

As for Carillo, Mabery said the FHHS senior had a great season, scoring 16 goals and providing 25 assists throughout the season.

“She has distributed the ball so well and really helped her teammates get to the opportunity of winning state,” Mabery said.

“She can do it all. She played forward, midfield, defense and even goalie for us. Other coaches could instantly tell she was the top player on the field and immediately would try to man-mark her. And then Leah would just kick it up a notch and that was really awesome to watch.”

When asked what makes Carillo a good leader, Mabery said she is humble and really wants to do whatever it takes to be the best and to win.

According to Carillo, that may have something to do with the fact that she’s been paying soccer since first grade.

“My older siblings were playing, so I grew up watching them play,” she said.

“I just really like the game. It’s led to me meeting some of my best friends. It’s a fun sport and it’s very competitive.”

Carillo said that, coming in as a freshman, she was here for Mabery’s first season of coaching. With so many new faces involved in the program, she said she wasn’t sure what to expect out of the next four years of soccer.

“Our team was kind of small, so we weren’t expecting much,” she said.

“But we just built off of that.”

Looking back at the past several months, Carillo called it a “surprise underdog season.”

“We had a lot of injuries and we didn’t even know if we would make it to state,” she said.

“I think there was a lot of doubt and also a bitter taste from losing in the finals last year. But we got to state and started doing really well. We were ranked number seven, I think, so we were the underdogs. We were also incognito, because we’ve been there before and know how it goes.”

When asked how she’s handling all of the post-season accolades, Carillo sort of groaned, adding, “I don’t know, I was pretty surprised, because there were some really good players this season…My family is really proud and excited. They love soccer too.”

Her success on the pitch has led Carillo to signing on to play for the University of Arizona. She’s going in undeclared, but said she would like to study psychology.

“I have a strong emotional sense and I’d really like to help people,” she said.

“I like to listen to people, focus on their problems and help them work through them.”