BIDDEFORD – Hailey Allen admits she keeps a video recording on her cell phone of the play that she ruptured her ACL so that she can show people who ask about the injury rather than talk about it. 

Almost nine months have passed since a Falmouth player collided with the Biddeford outgoing senior’s right leg in the first half of a Class A field hockey regional semifinal, and Hailey Allen won’t let the moment define her athletic career. 

Even when she slipped and her leg extended awkwardly during warmups at the McNally All-Star Game, an exhibition match on June 29 in Waterville that spotlighted the 2018 all-state players across Maine, the scare of reinjuring herself just weeks before starting practice at Merrimack College wasn’t enough to keep her away from the sport she loves. 

“I think, once I got back into my natural habitat, I was back with it,” said Hailey Allen, who played for about 30 minutes in her high school swan song. “There’s still some stuff I need to work on, but I’m feeling more confident now that (the first time) is out of the way … I’m glad to say, ‘I’m back.’” 

STRONG ALONE, UNSTOPPABLE TOGETHER

Hanging from a hook on a wall in the Allen’s living room is a small, wooden frame with the quote “Strong Alone, Unstoppable Together” burnt into the wood.  

Jay and Heather Allen say that their daughters grew up on field hockey, but it’s more like Hailey, 18, Abby, 16, and Delaney, 11, were born into the sport. As soon as each girl could walk, they began to follow in the footsteps of their mother, a formidable player in her own right during her time at Stearns High School in Millinocket.  

The girls received their first dose of live competition as kindergarteners in rec league, and they’ve continued to graduate up the ranks with each one honoring their mother at some point by donning her old No. 37. 

Around the fifth-grade, Heather Allen could tell that her oldest daughter had a bright future in field hockey by the way she strategically approached the game. 

Others who have spent time around Hailey Allen aren’t surprised either that she’s playing at the Division I level this fall. 

“When she’s not playing field hockey, she’s watching it. She gets in early, she stays late,” said Biddeford High field hockey coach Caitlin Albert. “But, her best trait is that she tries to help everyone around her and people kind of gravitate toward that. When you see someone who is that dedicated and passionate, it really does rub off on you … A lot of the girls want to be like Hailey.” 

Albert, who coached Hailey Allen all four of her high school seasons, beams when she talks about her star pupil. She recalls stories of Hailey Allen’s freshman year when only four or five girls would attend voluntary practices. Now: “When I show up to Waterhouse Field, there are 20 girls. It’s really come a long way, and Hailey and the whole Allen family has had a huge impact on that.” 

Whether by choice or by the fortune of being born shortly after her older sister, Abby Allen has spent the majority of her field hockey career playing alongside Hailey Allen. The chemistry between the two girls shows up on the field, where the duo helped lead Biddeford to a 31-3-1 record over the last two seasons, and off the field, where the younger of the sisters spends her time in woodworking class creating small, wooden frames with quotes burnt into them. 

The duo’s relationship makes life’s victories that much sweeter. Their friendship amplifies its hardships. 

A PROMISE MADE

The first time that Hailey Allen met Robert Desjardins was just before her freshman season. Desjardins, or “Desi” as Biddeford’s No. 1 sports fan is better known as in the community, approached Hailey Allen after a field hockey clinic during the summer, she said, and he told her how excited he was to see her compete in high school.  

Just Desi being Desi. 

Desjardins, an avid supporter of all Biddeford athletics, started documenting in 1966 the achievements of local athletes in scrapbooks that he’d compiled from newspaper clippings. He played basketball and ran track and cross-country at Biddeford High before graduating in 1960, and he demonstrated “Tiger Pride” into adulthood, attending hundreds of sporting events and leaving a lasting impression on all whose lives he entered. 

Desjardins took a special interest, as he did with many athletes, in Hailey and Abby Allen and their teammate, Paige Laverriere. The quartet shared such a close bond that the three girls were among the last people who saw Desjardins in hospice in September of 2017, Hailey Allen’s and Laverriere’s junior season and Abby Allen’s freshman year. 

“We tried keeping conversation with him, but he was very unresponsive,” Hailey Allen said. “It was hard to get much out of him.” 

Desjardins was able to muster enough strength to whisper six words: “Go get me a state championship.”

Hailey Allen looked back at Desjardins. “For you, Desi, we will. That’s a promise.” 

Desjardins, 71, died Sept. 21, 2017. 

THE INJURY

The promise to Desjardin wasn’t kept that season. Westbrook beat Biddeford 2-0 in a regional final Oct. 24, 2017. 

The Allens took the loss hard, but they used the defeat as motivation to rally the troops as they entered the 2018 season.

As team captain, Hailey Allen wanted everyone to know how much Desjardins wanted to be alongside the Tigers that season. She and her sister did everything in their power to “spread the culture” to their teammates, families and community.  

“We were very down on ourselves,” Laverriere said. “But it kind of gave us a little push the next year that we had to do this for Desi.”

Biddeford went 13-0-1 during the regular season to earn the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the 2018 postseason. A 2-0 victory over Thornton Academy placed Biddeford in a regional semifinal against Falmouth and just three wins shy of a state title. 

Then, Hailey Allen’s life changed. 

With the clock nearing halftime, Hailey Allen had the ball and stepped up to take a free hit. Biddeford already held a 1-0 lead courtesy of a goal by Maddy Dineen that Hailey Allen assisted, and the Tigers were looking to double their advantage before heading into the locker room. 

The Falmouth defender didn’t give Hailey Allen enough space, she said, and the defender ran through Hailey Allen’s body and kicked out the bottom of her right leg.  

She fell to the ground, grabbed her knee and started screaming. 

“My heart dropped,” said Hailey Allen, who was carried off the field by her teammates after writhing in pain for about 45 seconds. 

Determined to see her promise to Desjardin through, Hailey Allen insisted she return despite a warning from an athletic trainer that she might have suffered an ACL injury. A brief halftime rest and some ice seemed to do the trick, she said, and “the quarterback of the team” was able to talk her way onto the field to start the second half.

She lasted about five minutes. 

While sprinting down the side of the field with possession, Hailey Allen took a swing, missed the ball and felt her knee rip. She collapsed to the turf. 

She knew her season was done. 

Her teammates held out hope. 

“I saw her on the ground, and I was frozen,” Laverriere said. “I was like, ‘Get up. Please just get up. We need you.’” 

Seeing Hailey Allen go down the second time, said Albert, was one of the most heartbreaking feelings she’s experienced. Biddeford held on for the win, 1-0, as Abby Allen filled her sister’s center midfield position and Laverriere rotated into a midfield role. 

Still, there were no smiles on the Tigers sideline when the final whistle sounded.

“Hailey’s invested so much of her time and her life into this sport,” Albert said. “I couldn’t think of anyone worse for that to happen to.” 

The only thing Hailey Allen could think of was her promise to Desjardin. 

“It was heartbreaking knowing that my last words to (Desi) were a promise and that I couldn’t fulfill that,” she said. “I prayed every night.” 

A PROMISE KEPT

It took the Tigers a couple of days to regroup from the injury, said Laverriere. The team had two practices before their regional semifinal match against Westbrook – the team that had prevented Biddeford from winning a championship for Desjardin the previous season. 

Hailey Allen was on crutches, hopeful she might be able to play against Westbrook as she awaited the results of her MRI. The diagnosis: a complete ACL rupture. 

“It was the worst experience of my life so far,” Heather Allen said. “I cried in my room a lot through the whole thing trying to keep it together for Hailey. It was devastating … I know much worse things could have happened (in life), but, for our little field hockey family, it was the worst.”

The night before Biddeford’s and Westbrook’s rematch, Oct. 23, 2018, a somber Allen family sat down for dinner. Hailey Allen looked across the square table toward her mother and started to cry. Mom followed suit. 

Abby Allen had seen enough. She slammed her fists on the table, stared at her sister and told her, “I got this. I got you.”  

“If we lose, (Falmouth) wins,” Abby Allen said. “I don’t lose. I don’t lose … I just had to be confident.”

With a mindset of one game at a time — just like they had done for their entire undefeated season — the Tigers rallied.  

“We knew (Hailey) would want us to play for Desi,” Laverriere said. “She would want us to keep going.” 

Biddeford beat Westbrook 1-0 in overtime the next night. Abby Allen scored 3:29 into the extra period. Even with her heroics, Abby Allen confessed that she thought the Tigers’ win was a little lucky. 

Ten days later, in the Class A title match against three-time defending champ Skowhegan, Abby Allen gave Biddeford a 1-0 lead six minutes in. Skowhegan tied the score two minutes into the second half. Less than two minutes later, Abby Allen scored again. Laverriere made it 3-1 seven minutes later. Abby Allen sealed Biddeford’s first championship since 1990 with her third goal shortly after. 

“(Hailey) means a lot,” Abby Allen said. “Putting in all my sprints and running back and forth (during practice) … It was worth it because it was for her.”

As the Tigers celebrated on the field, a rainbow appeared on the horizon, and a promise was kept. 

THE AFTERMATH 

Hailey Allen underwent knee surgery Nov. 30, 2018. She started physical therapy a couple of weeks before the operation, which she thinks has gone a long way in helping her recovery. There have been some “dark” times, she said, like watching other athletes train while she couldn’t even do a squat. 

After the initial elation of winning a state title wore off, she had to find ways to stay positive during a rigorous rehab regiment. In March, Biddeford outgoing senior Grace Martin tore her ACL seconds into the SMAA girls’ basketball senior all-star game. Martin, who plans to play basketball at Harvard University in the winter, texted Hailey Allen on her way to the hospital to tell her what happened. The two high school standouts have helped each other on the road to recovery.

“Ever since she came in with her (injury) we’ve just been with each other, encouraging each other,” Hailey Allen said. “It’s definitely helped both me and her to get each other out of the (negative) mindset when we’ve been down.” 

Hailey Allen feels good about where she’s at in the process — she moves into her college dorm Aug. 14 — as she prepares for the intensity of Division I field hockey. She wore a knee brace at the McNally All-Star Game. She’s still getting used to that, she said, but she plans to wear it when she feels she needs to. 

In true Hailey Allen fashion, she told Albert, who coached the South team during the all-star game, that she was good to go without any restriction.  

She didn’t once ask for a sub. 

“She reminds me a lot of myself. If something like that had happened to me, I know that I would put everything I can to get back out there,” Albert said. “If you didn’t know her, you probably wouldn’t have known that she overcame an injury … The second you let that ACL tear define you it takes away from your game.”

Almost nine months have passed since a Falmouth player collided with her right leg, and Hailey Allen won’t let the moment define her athletic career. 

 

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