Millis is the two-time defending MIAA Division 4 girls’ soccer champion.
From her view on the sideline the past two years, Sydney Bailen was happy for her Mohawk teammates. She was happy for her father, Steve, the team’s head coach, and her brother, Cam, assistant/goalie coach.
However, it pained her that she was unable to participate, the result of suffering ACL tears in her right knee in successive years.
But now, back on the field as a senior captain, she will be suiting up when Millis takes on Millbury in Saturday morning (10 a.m.) in the Division 4 state final at Foley Stadium in Worcester.
In 2014, after a five-year run as the boys’ soccer coach at Millis — in which he coached Cam — Steve Bailen was asked by athletic director Chuck Grant to take the helm of the varsity girls’ program.
In his second season, three freshmen earned spot on the roster, including Sydney. Then Cam, who was enrolled at nearby Dean College in Frankin, came on board as an assistant.
“I wanted to stick around and watch my sister play,” said Cam, now 23. “I would say that was a huge reason why [I stayed].”
But Sydney’s playing status was put on hold as a sophomore. In the second game of the season, chasing down a ball, she shifted direction, and fell to the ground with pain in her right knee.
“It was a snap type of pop and [my knee] felt so loose after,” Sydney said. “I knew in my gut something was wrong because I have never had that feeling in my leg before. It was different and not in a good way.”
It was a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Millis finished off a 17-2-2 season with a 1-0 win over Millbury for the state title. Sydney, after surgery and rehab, was back on the field the following spring.
However, in a town soccer practice, she tried to make a move, got tangled up with a player behind her and fell to the ground with a familiar pain in her knee.
Another ACL tear. The surgery, months of rehab, and countless hours training, seemingly behind her, would be a do-over, her junior season gone.
She attended every game and practice to support her teammates, but sometimes after the final whistle blew, and she was in the comfort of her car, all Sydney could do was cry.
“When I was out there, I was happy watching them,” Sydney explained. “I was cheering them on. It was a great feeling. When everything settled down, it hit right in my heart. The pain of [not playing].”
As a father, and as a coach, Steve Bailen was unsure of the right way to comfort his daughter.
“She wasn’t 5 or 6 years old, where you could bring home balloons and cheer her up,” he said. “There were plenty of days and plenty of nights when my wife [Debra] and I would talk about it. We would just tear up because you don’t know what to say. You don’t know what to do as a parent.”
The process had almost become routine. Sydney worked through rehab, the Mohawks repeated as state champions with a 2-0 win over Granby, but there was a mix of joy (a win) and pain (being sidelined).
She was back on the field last spring and trained harder than ever last summer, working with her father on agility training and conditioning.
“I was thinking what the hell. I can’t do anything worse than I already did,” Sydney said. “I was just focusing on what I can do better.”
Millis opened the regular season against Tri-Valley League rival Ashland with a 3-0 victory. Sydney stepped onto the pitch for the first time in nearly two years. Nerves ran through her body, but the smile on her face failed to waver. She could finally play soccer.
With each completed game, her confidence grew. As a midfielder, she has registered three goals — all in the state tourney — and seven assists on the season.
On Saturday morning, she will play her final high school game, playing for her father for the last time — and her brother, too — when the Mohawks (17-4-4) shoot for their third straight title.
“Once that last whistle blows, the emotions are going to happen,” Steve Bailen said. “But whatever happens on the field we have succeeded.”
Added Sydney, “Either way if we come out on top, or bottom, I think I’m going to be happy because I know I made it this far.
“All I wanted to do this season was play and I have been able to do that. That was my main goal coming back from my injuries was just to play.”
John Hand can be reached at johnrhand4@gmail.com.