Allen grew up in High Point, North Carolina, the younger of two children born to Laura and Scott Allen.[2] She began playing soccer at a young age.[3] She came from a University of North Carolina family and attended soccer camps there while in middle school.[3] She played soccer and basketball for High Point Christian Academy in eighth grade.[4] She began online schooling the next year while playing for the NC Courage Academy club team.[4] She committed to North Carolina as a ninth grader.[3]
College career
After redshirting her freshman year, Allen became North Carolina's starting goalkeeper at the start of the 2022 season.[2][5] She alternated playing halves with another keeper in her first six games.[2][6] She saved two penalty kicks in her first shootout in college in the semifinals of the 2022 ACC tournament.[7] In the 2022 NCAA tournament, she made six saves to shut out Notre Dame in the quarterfinals and a career-high nine saves against Florida State in the semifinals.[8][9] In the 2022 championship game against UCLA, she recorded eight saves, but with seconds remaining she was shoved to the ground on a corner kick converted by the Bruins; the play was not called a foul, and North Carolina lost in overtime.[3][10][11] She totaled 70 saves and 8 shutouts on the season.[2]
Before her 2023 season, Allen recovered from a spring knee injury and played with the Courage's amateur USL W League side in the summer.[3][4] She recorded 46 saves and 8 shutouts as a redshirt sophomore, including two shutouts in the 2023 NCAA tournament.[2] She tied her career high with nine saves in the team's NCAA quarterfinal loss to BYU.[2][12]