SWAMPSCOTT — When the head coach says “I just didn’t want the season to end,” you know it was a good one.

Swampscott’s boys soccer team had its best year since coach Adam Bailey took over the program three years ago. Bailey led his team to a 14-3-3 record, which earned the Big Blue the No. 8 seed in Division III and two home games in the state tournament.

Bailey, who was named Northeastern Conference Coach of the Year, said he was honored to win, but wishes it was a team award.

Rewind the clock. When Bailey took over at the school and evaluated the players he had in front of him, he admitted to looking ahead to 2023, knowing it could be a special one.

“Two years ago, just looking at the talent that we had in the younger classes, we kind of circled 2023 on the calendar as a year that could be special,” Bailey said.

This season’s mindset: “Stay focused on what we can control.”

“The last two years, we won four games each year, so going into the season, I avoided specific conversations about expectations,” Bailey said. “The mentality was to focus on what you can control and just move forward. We wanted to eliminate all distractions. If a ref made a bad call, move on. If a player on the other team was getting chippy, move on. I told the kids that tough guys don’t talk, they play. If you’re interested in fighting, join MMA.”

Swampscott didn’t get to 14 wins overnight. In fact, it was a 5-0 loss to Beverly early in the season that made the Big Blue wake up.

“I have to thank that beating we got from Beverly. We had a strong win against Marblehead, lost to Gloucester, and had a good win against Salem, and then Beverly just gave it to us,” Bailey said. “It was probably the best thing that could have happened. We were 2-2 at the time and we were pretty comfortable with the talent we had, but I don’t think we got to the point where we were entirely focused, so we started to let things creep in. Little things were getting to us instead of us focusing on the task at hand. I think that game really woke us up as a team.”

After that loss, Swampscott closed out the regular season undefeated, including results against Gloucester, Masconomet, Peabody, and St. Mary’s.

The Gloucester game, in particular, was one of the best NEC games of the season.

Entering, Swampscott was ranked ninth while Gloucester sported second. The Big Blue, on their home turf, found themselves down 2-0 inside 19 minutes. However, they remained focused and battled back, eventually getting the game-winning goal from Lucas Bereaud in extra time.

“Gloucester has been a great team over the last three years,” Bailey said. “We started slowly and came back from behind. It was a really emotional win. We know how good that program is, so it was a big win as a team.”

Bailey talked about sacrifices players made to put the team first, which included position changes.

“We had a real team-first mentality. I had players who were in offensive positions, and had to ask guys to take a step back for more of a defensive role,” he said. “Having our kids buy into the team-first mentality is one of the reasons why we were successful.”

One thing fans may have noticed during Bailey’s tenure so far: he’s never called a timeout. In fact, he believes they shouldn’t be in the game.

“I haven’t called a timeout in three seasons. The first reason is this beautiful game that we play. I have so much respect for it, so I think adding timeouts to it – just because other sports have it – I don’t think is right,” Bailey said. “To a certain extent, I think it’s disrespectful to the game. I’m not talking about water breaks during a heat advisory or anything like that. The timeouts are just not a part of the game.”

“I told my guys if the other team calls a timeout, it’s a great time for them to chat. If I see something, maybe I’ll bring it up to them, but they need to learn how to deal with adversity and adjust on the field, which is what the game is about,” Bailey said. “We haven’t called one and we won’t call one.”

Bailey added how proud he was of his team, and compared it to ending a college experience.

“When you play college soccer or any college sport, and your career comes to an end, you kind of have a feeling of frustration that you’re done playing,” Bailey said. “People fill that with different things. Whether it’s pickup leagues, official leagues, and so forth. But coaching this team had that same feeling as playing in college. It was such a fun group to be around and I’m super proud of everyone. You couldn’t have asked for a better group.”