Bangor’s Teagan Atherley is the Varsity Maine Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

When she’s on the pitch, Teagan Atherley is at peace.

“I feel so calm whenever I play,” said Atherley, a Bangor High senior. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt anxiety when going out to play a game.”

Atherley’s opponents, on the other hand, are likely trying not to panic as they attempt to contain her.

Atherley, a high-attacking midfielder, capped her stellar high school soccer career with 37 goals and 12 assists this season, leading the Rams to their first Class A title since 2015 with a 3-1 win over two-time defending champ Scarborough. For her efforts, Atherley is the Varsity Maine Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year.

“The one thing she does, there’s no change in her demeanor or play, ever,” Bangor Coach Jay Kemble said of Atherley. “She goes as hard in the 70th minute as she did in the first. She never gets tired … Each team we played had to scramble to try to match her speed.”

Atherley scored 70 goals in her career, including 60 over the last two seasons. Losing to Scarborough in the 2023 state championship game didn’t haunt the Rams, but it provided ample motivation for the 2024 campaign.

“We needed to make a little bit of a change in our mentality. We needed to play more like a team,” Atherley said. “We were friends on and off the field.”

Kemble praised Atherley’s leadership. When the Rams transitioned from drill to drill in practice, Atherley was there to explain the how and why of what they were doing to her younger teammates. When there were cones or other equipment to put out before practice and put away after, Atherley led the way, Kemble said. The point Atherley made was clear. We’re all going to do this together.

“She’s extremely positive, and she leads by example,” Kemble said.

Atherley credited her teammates with much of her success.

“A lot of it had to do with the players around me. Our chemistry was really good. We ran a lot of give-and-goes, and I just put (shots) on net,” Atherley said.

If opponents built a game plan around slowing Atherely, as they often did, she was happy to make sure her teammates got scoring opportunities. Clara Oldenburg, a junior, scored 27 goals this season. In the state final, freshman Georgie Stephenson came off the bench to score a pair of goals, while Gabby Roy got the other.

“Teams adjusted their defenses to take (Atherley) away, but she was so unselfish and distributed the ball so well,” Kemble said. “If they took away the middle so she had no run-throughs, she set up her teammates.”

Also a member of the powerful Seacoast United club team that produced several Division I-bound players this year, Atherely grew up around the game. Her father, Scott Atherley, is the longtime coach of the University of Maine women’s soccer team. Growing up around the Black Bears was an inspiration, she said.

“They’ve been such a great example of what I wanted to be,” Atherley said.

Next year, she’ll join them, playing for her father as Maine goes for a third straight America East title and the NCAA tournament bid that comes with it.

“I feel like it’s been a dream of mine for the longest time. I don’t think there was anyplace else I wanted to play,” Teagan Atherley said.

Kemble expects Atherley to have more success with the Black Bears.

“She has an explosiveness that will play well at that level,” he said.