Bedillion, Hill stick together from Trinity to WVU
Maggie Bedillion, left, and Amanda Hill are Trinity High School graduates who both start for West Virginia’s women’s soccer team, which is 11-1.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – From the moment they first stepped on a soccer field together when they were 4 years old, Maggie Bedillion and Amanda Hill have been inseparable.
The two sat on a couch inside DreamsWork Field – West Virginia University’s women’s soccer practice facility – last Wednesday, finishing each other’s sentences as they reflected on how two girls from Trinity High School became starters on the fourth-ranked team in the country.
Both players are seniors for the Mountaineers. Bedillion, a two-year starting defender, and Hill, a four-year starting defensive center midfielder and an All-Big 12 selection two years ago, forged a bond that drives both to succeed and supports one another through an experience nobody can prepare for – the death of a parent.
It all began at that first practice at Meadowlands fields in Houston almost 18 years ago. The two enthusiastic and energetic girls always tried to one-up each other. One player’s success drove the other to improve.
“We came out of the womb together,” Bedillion joked. “Amanda told me not to say it, but I have to. Soccer united our friendship. It’s funny we’re still playing the sport and we’re friends. My mom will call Amanda her daughter. We’re that close.”
There were the long car rides to tournaments and countless hours of practice that made Bedillion and Hill best friends and brought their families together.
If it weren’t for family, Bedillion and Hill might not be where they are today.
Hill was 12 years old in October 2006, when she was traveling with her mother, Lori, from a cross country invitational in Grove City to a soccer match when another car swerved in front of their vehicle. The family’s SUV rolled over and Amanda was ejected from the vehicle. Miraculously, she only had minor injuries, but her mother did not survive.
In Feb. 2012, Bedillion’s father, Daniel Passo, awoke one day with slurred speech. After a battery of tests, doctors diagnosed him with ALS – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease – a neurodegenerative disease that impacts nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.
Six months later, and showing no major symptoms, Passo called his wife, Conniejo, from work to plan their trip to West Virginia’s match against Oklahoma that night. Shortly after hanging up, he collapsed and died.
“That’s a connection we have,” Hill said. “Maggie understands me more than anybody in the world. I think that just strengthened us. We understand when we’re having bad days and we’re helping each other. It just gives you someone to talk to. She’s always been there for me. That connection is the only way to get through something like that.”
Conniejo has seen how both reacted to that loss. What sticks out is how they helped each other through tought times and fought to become two of the best soccer players to come from Washington County.
“When you lose a parent like that, a lot of kids would go the other way,” Passo said. “I think it just made them be the best people they can be and do it for the ones they lost. They’re both so humble and have such big hearts. I’m just so proud of both of them.”
Success in youth leagues led to travel soccer, and eventually the two were standouts at Trinity. In their four years of high school soccer, the Hillers didn’t reach the WPIAL playoffs or generate a winning record, but wins didn’t matter when they wore blue and white. It was about the love of the game.
Their success as players with the Beadling Soccer Club included five state championships. Denny Kohlmeyer, the president of the organization, watched closely as each developed from talented youth player to Division I recruit.
“Amanda is probably one of the better players to ever come out of Western Pennsylvania,” Kohlmeyer said. “That girl works harder than most professional athletes. Maggie always had the tools to be very, very good. You saw that from Day 1.”
The bond the two formed translated to the pitch, where they make effortless passes to each other and shut down opposing forwards. One would hear the other’s voice, kick the ball in that direction and more often than not a play would develop.
Their talent and that chemistry led longtime West Virginia head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown, who has led the program to 15 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, to offer Hill and Bedillion scholarships. They fit nicely into her philosophy that a family – not a team – wins matches.
“Them knowing each other, always pulling for each other, I couldn’t ask for a better duo that came in together,” Izzo-Brown said. “From a human standpoint to a soccer standpoint, both have made each other better. Those girls are blue-collar girls. Without either one, we wouldn’t be in the position we are now.”
That position is one of the top women’s soccer programs in the country. The Mountaineers (11-1) have allowed just three goals this season, are second in the nation in goals-against-average and have 10 shutouts. That has a lot to do with the defensive-minded girls on the back end – Bedillion and Hill. Bedillion has three assists while Hill scored the only goal in a win over Penn State and has an assist.
The two roomed together when arriving on campus, both major in exercise physiology and are in every class together. Strangely enough, it shows on the field.
“Even before we came to college, I’d pass the ball and not know where Amanda was on the field and it would magically go to her,” Bedillion said. “People think we have this weird telepathy.”
Hill, a two-time all-state selection at Trinity, started every match since arriving as a freshman and even scored the game-winning goal against Oklahoma on the night of Bedillion’s father’s death. Maggie was not there, but it was her first varsity goal the two will share forever.
After playing sparingly for two seasons, Bedillion started 22 matches at outside back last fall and was voted the team’s Most Improved Player. That first career goal came in a 4-1 victory over Duquesne. The first person to congratulate her was Hill.
Both know a thing or two about resilience. They’ve shown it every day since they were just two 4 year olds kicking a soccer ball around with their parents watching.
“Both of us are the same – our motivation is our family, whether they are here or not,” Hill said. “Whether it’s blood or not, it really doesn’t matter. Our family is our team, we have our family at home and we have our parents watching over us. More than anything else, that’s motivation. We share that.”