A brief injury on the field this season allowed Mt. Blue senior Mackenzie Conlogue to become acquainted with the team’s trainer. To that point, she had never seen him.

“The trainer said she was the only girl athlete in the school that had never seen him,” said Fred Conlogue, Mackenzie’s father and coach. “She’s pretty tough. She’ll play through pretty much anything.”

Mental and physical toughness, coupled with athletic ability took Conlogue a long way during her career with the Mt. Blue girls soccer team. She scored 34 goals and dished out 23 assist over that span, including 13 goals and 11 assists this season.

“Assists is really where her contribution is for the team,” her father said. “That’s what she really does best.”

For her efforts, Conlogue has been selected Morning Sentinel Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Winslow sophomore Pilar Elias was also considered.

Mackenzie grew up around soccer. Both her brothers were standout players and her dad was a two-time All-American at the University of Maine at Farmington.

“I’ve always liked it,” said Mackenzie, who began playing at age 6.

She hit her stride by the seventh grade when she played premier soccer for the Terriers, later moving on to Black Bear out of Bangor.

“Her key is her left foot,” Fred Conlogue said. “She actually got better with her left than her right.”

Mackenzie played defense for Black Bear much of the time which she said expanded her game.

“It gave me a defensive edge which helped my offense,” she said. “I actually like passing more because I know how to score and I know how other people want the ball.”

Her dad said Mackenzie’s first touch is another of her strengths since she’s able to position her body to do something with the ball as she receives it. And as well as she passes the ball, she’s pretty good at scoring, too.

“Her goals are pretty,” he said. “Like the one against Waterville over the goalie to the far post. She doesn’t take a lot of shots for us, she really develops the play.”

The Cougars went 8-5-1 during the regular season to finish fifth in the Eastern Maine Class A standings. They faced Waterville, a team that had beaten them during the regular season, in the opening of the playoffs. They avenged that loss with a 3-1 victory in which Conlogue scored the game-winning goal and added an insurance score a minute later. The game-winner came from 30 yards out and beat the goalie to the far post. Moments later, she headed in a corner kick. The playoff win was the first in five years for the Cougars.

“I wanted to win at least one playoff game,” Mackenzie said.

Conlogue also starts for the basketball team which should contend for Eastern Maine Class A honors this season. In the spring, she’s the No. 1 singles player for the tennis team. She plans to study nursing in college and will play soccer is she finds the right fit.

Gary Hawkins — 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com