Allie Regan, future college basketball player, a first-time Framingham soccer keeper

Posted by Admin September 25, 2024 Basketball

FRAMINGHAM – Jen DeFusco walked into a basketball game and came away with a soccer goalie.

The story isn’t quite that simple. But her quest to fill a key position began on the hardwood.

Allie Regan, a future Division 2 college basketball player who hadn’t played soccer since seventh grade – and never in goal – was more of a curiosity than a slam-dunk option for DeFusco, Framingham High’s girls soccer coach.

But her standout keeper last year, Kaylee Faulkner, had graduated. With no obvious replacement, why not cross sports and look for the best athlete available?

“Let’s go to a basketball game and take a peek,” DeFusco recalled. “A couple of the girls talked to her and then she came to my office and we talked and she was like, ‘I want to do it.’”

“They asked me if I wanted to and I just wanted to do something new,” Regan, a senior, said. “It’s difficult but it’s fun.”

Keeper has annually been a strong position for DeFusco, Framingham’s coach since 2010. From Kelly Romano to Lilly Vermilya (now at the University of New Hampshire) to Faulkner, last year’s team MVP.

Regan looks natural at her new position. As a 5-foot-7 guard last winter, she had little trouble seeing the floor well and the two-time league all-star finished third in the Bay State Conference in scoring.

She sees the soccer field with the same one-step-ahead vision. Excelling was going to take time, however. Regan plays summer basketball with the Mass Huskies, but mixed in soccer when time allowed.

“She got to what she could for summer training, but I knew at the start of the season, we were going to have to train her,” DeFusco said. “The bulk of her learning how to play goalkeeper was going to happen on the fly.

“She had no experience but athleticism times a thousand. She is open to learning.”

With help from Faulkner, who is taking a gap year, Regan’s adaptation to her new position did happen quickly. She made a diving save in a preseason jamboree. She got her hands on a penalty kick during an early-season game.

And she made several acrobatic saves against Natick earlier this month, keeping the No. 4-ranked team in the country off the board in the first half.

Regan has also been supported by a strong defense that includes Ava Callahan, Sofia Carney, Lexi Sullivan and Madison Steenburgh.

“I’m definitely learning,” Regan said. “Our defense is good with communicating. If I see something, I say something, but they most of the time have it covered.”

Allie Regan closing in on 1,000 career points

Regan was named a Daily News All-Star last year after a basketball season that included a 30-point game and 388 total points. She is 151 away from 1,000 points, a feat her sister, Katie, achieved as a senior in 2023.

Allie committed over the summer to play basketball at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York, a program on the rise. The Mavericks won 20 games last winter before their season ended in Waltham last March in a Division 2 regional quarterfinal loss to Bentley, Mercy’s first NCAA appearance since 1985.

Picking up a new sport during the fall before her final high school basketball season comes with risks, but Regan has not been thrown into goal without proper supervision.

“I’m not going to put her in a position where she isn’t getting training to do these things. Because there IS risk,” DeFusco said. “She’s brave and that’s half the battle. It’s amazing that she’s done what she’s done.”

Framingham has struggled to score goals this season, but the Flyers’ defense is keeping them in most games. The team has allowed two or fewer goals in all but one game, even with an inexperienced – but fast-learning – keeper.

“She has already exceeded our expectations and every game we see some more,” DeFusco said. “The people that are training her for keeper, after the first day, they’re like, ‘I don’t think you really have anything to worry about.’”

Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.