HA’s Stephenson All-New England Players Murphy, Correll, Pickering, coaches Pendleton, Pickering feted

BANGOR – Kim Stephenson had been in this position before, as an All-New England honoree for girls soccer.

But this time, receiving an award from the Maine Soccer Coaches Association was a bit different for Hampden’s star center midfielder.

“This year it seemed like kind of a building year for our team, but I thought we had a pretty good season,” said Stephenson, who led the Broncos to an undefeated regular season with 18 goals and 19 assists. “I’m just as surprised as I was last year, because there are a ton of good soccer players in here. It could have been anyone.”

Stephenson was one of three girls who, along with three boys, were named All-New England by the Maine Soccer Coaches Association.

It was the third straight year Mount Ararat of Topsham forward Erika Stupinski was honored. She and forward Jimmy Velas of Falmouth were named the coaches’ picks for All-America status.

The honors for the state’s top players and coaches were handed out Sunday afternoon at a banquet at the Spectacular Events Center.

Stephenson, Stupinski and fullback Bobbi Dennison of North Yarmouth were the three All-New England girls picks. Velas, Lawrence of Fairfield goalie Nate Lovitz, and Portland forward Francis Khamis were the boys selections.

Velas scored 77 goals and had 32 assists in his four-year career, which included four Class B state titles.

Awards for a Player of the Year in each classification, new to the program this year, were also named Sunday.

The winners of those awards included Belfast’s Kaitlin Murphy for Class B girls, Chris Correll of Machias in the Class D boys category, and Lee’s Shelby Pickering in Class D girls.

“It’s a big honor for me,” said Correll, who scored 20 goals and helped the Bulldogs to a state crown. “Not a lot of Class D players get recognized.”

The afternoon was even more special for Pickering, whose father Tom was named a National Soccer Coaches of America New England Coach of the Year, along with Belfast’s Don Hoenig. It’s believed to be the first time two Maine high school coaches advanced to national consideration in the same year.

“My dad did a good job,” said Shelby Pickering, who scored a single-season state record 57 goals this year as the Pandas won the Class D state title in Tom Pickering’s second year as coach. “He just knew we had to have fun to keep us with it and we tried new things in every practice because if not, we’d get bored.”

Longtime Georges Valley of Thomaston boys coach Sam Pendleton was also a Coach of the Year honoree.