KK Daggett made sure as little time as possible was wasted this season.

She started scoring from the get-go, netting two goals in Mt. Blue’s 6-0 season-opening win over Edward Little. That kicked off a stretch by the senior striker of scoring at least two goals in each of the Cougars’ first nine games — all of which were won by the Cougars, who began the season with a 10-game winning streak.

“I wanted to show everyone the type of player I was and end my last year with a bang,” Daggett said.

In the ninth game, she scored her 19th and 20th goals, which set a new school single-season record. She finished the year with 25 goals and eight assists. After the season, Daggett was voted to the KVAC Class A first team, and she has been selected as the 2022 Sun Journal All-Region Girls Soccer Player of the Year.

She also set the Mt. Blue record for points in a season. She finishes her high school career with 40 goals and 18 assists for 98 points, which ranks fourth in program history.

Daggett said has been playing soccer since she was 4 years old, and she has always been an offensive player. She began her high school career with a goal to break the school scoring records, and it’s likely that she would have if her sophomore season hadn’t been nixed by the global pandemic.

From that lost season, Daggett gained a lesson that she said played a part in her success.

“I knew what I was capable of, and I think leaving it all out on the field was how I did it — and treating every game like the last, because COVID really showed me that you can lose everything in one day,” she said.

That lesson carried over to her role as a team captain this season. Mt. Blue coach Griffin Conlogue said that when players were frustrated or not practicing with enough intent, Daggett was the “No. 1 person” to stop practice and ask him to step away for a few minutes while she and the other captains talked to the team.

“It was a huge reason we were so successful this year: we didn’t really have any wasted practices. And a lot of that came from her — and the other captains, but her in particular,” Conlogue said. “A very, very important part of her leadership is keeping people on task and with a goal in mind of the amount of success we wanted this season.”

Daggett said that all the Mt. Blue players helped elevate each other’s and the team’s play this year.

“We had great chemistry,” Daggett said. She later added that the players had good attitudes and were often “lifting each other up. Just a great group of girls to be around. Great energy. They make you feel like you fit in. If you make a mistake, it’s, ‘OK, next play.’”

CULTURE SETTER

Conlogue said that Daggett also set the tone on the field in the second game of the season, when Mt. Blue defeated Camden Hills for the first time in recent history.

The Windjammers scored first to take a 1-0 lead late in the first half, but Daggett scored with four seconds left in the half to even the score at the break.

“At halftime, we’re 1-1, and her and another captain are just kind of yelling, ‘We’re going to beat Camden Hills. We’re going to beat Camden Hills,’” Conlogue said.

Daggett netted another goal early in the second half to give the Cougars the lead, and they added another score later to earn a 3-1 victory.

“That was the big moment where, had we not won that game, I don’t think we would have won the 12 games that we won this year — we probably would have won two less than that,” Conlogue said. “So that was a huge moment, and her individual play in that (game) was the reason we won, and also just her leadership there, as well. It was just kind of a turning point in the culture of the team.”

The Cougars finished the season with a 12-3-2 record and reached the Class A North semifinals. Their only losses were to top-seeded and eventual region champion Brunswick and second-seeded Bangor.

PROLIFIC SCORER

This was Conlogue’s first year as Mt. Blue’s head coach, but he has been a coach or an assistant of Daggett’s teams since she was in seventh grade, and he said that Daggett scored in every game as a seventh- and eighth-grader until she broke her ankle 10 minutes into the final game of her eighth-grade season.

“She’s always been a goal scorer who has scored an insane amount of goals,” Conlogue said.

Conlogue said Daggett’s scoring prowess comes from playing soccer year-round — she also plays for the Central Maine United club team — and from being able to shoot with both feet. She also became a more versatile scorer this season.

“A big reason she added so many goals to her total this year is that she’s added more to her game. She’s added in scoring from distance, she scored a couple of set-piece goals this year,” Conlogue said.

Daggett said that her improvement went beyond her soccer skills.

“It’s really all mental,” she said. “You have to be in the right headspace, you have to be confident in yourself, which is something I’ve gained. … I had to believe in myself first. I knew what I was capable of, and I think leaving it all out on the field was how I did it.”

Daggett is a three-sport athlete who plays basketball in the winter and softball in the spring. She said that she wants to play soccer in college, but she hasn’t yet decided where.

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