If anyone had told American Christian Academy girls soccer coach Gene Martin before the season that his team would have been the Class 4A, Area 3 champions for the sixth-straight season, he wouldn't have believed you.

Not that Martin does not believe in his team, but his squad this season is quite different from year's past, especially last year's Final Four team. This year, Martin has a young roster, made up of seven upperclassmen — six juniors and one senior — and 13 underclassmen, five of them still being in middle school, their youngest being seventh grader Saige Massengale.

In addition to his young roster, the Lady Patriots are without their all-state center midfielder, Anna Robbins, who tore her ACL last fall and had surgery to repair it in October. Without Robbins, who set an ACA school record with 32 goals last season, the Lady Patriots had a big hole to fill in the middle of the field, one that has been filled by sophomore Kaylee Shaw.

Shaw, who Martin says is a natural left wing, has accepted her new role as a center midfielder with open arms. On the season, Shaw has scored 13 goals and contributed 11 assists.

"It's been a good eye-opening experience for us to realize that without Anna, we do lose a crucial part of our team," Shaw said. "But we still have to pick up and go and we have to move forward from that. I feel like we all have to realize what she brings to the table and how we can fill it and how we can move forward with that."

Despite being sidelined with injury, Robbins still makes her presence felt for the Lady Patriots from the bench.

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"It's definitely a different role," Robbins said. "I mean I'm used to being on the field my entire life, so it's definitely taking a step back and understanding how I can benefit the team on the bench. I definitely love cheering these girls on, I love them with my whole heart. It's definitely been a fun, kind of sad experience, but I like to support them."

For her teammates, such as Shaw, Robbins has become their number one cheerleader.

"I know that I can rely on Anna and she always answers my questions and always cheers me on and always finds ways to make me better in that role," Shaw said. "She sees how I can develop and how what I am doing is actually working and I feel like she is my number one cheerleader."

With a few weeks remaining of the regular season, the Lady Patriots have already clinched their sixth-straight 4A-Area 3 championship and are undefeated in area play with wins over Holt, Montevallo and Sipsey Valley. Their sole loss of the year came nearly two months into the season in a 4-1 setback to Tuscaloosa Academy on April 4.

Despite this, they are in the driver's seat to host a first-round playoff game and are looking to make a deep run in this year's playoffs, which start on April 29.

"We've had some challenges," Martin said. "But they've accepted them, they've played really well, and they are overachieving this year ... They work really, really hard. They keep getting better, and that's all we can ask."

Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama softball and football recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: How ACA stayed dominant with young roster, without all-state member