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Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player Of The Year: Kennedy Wesley

Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Abby Wambach Surprises Winner with Honor

NEWS PROVIDED BY
The Gatorade Company
21 Jun, 2017, 17:30 ET

CERRITOS, Calif., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In its 32nd year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Kennedy Wesley of Valley Christian High School, Cerritos, Calif. as its 2016-17 Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Wesley was surprised with the news by two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIFA Women's World Cup champion Abby Wambach.

Check out the surprise video here.

"Kennedy really deserves to be this year's Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year because she symbolizes everything the award stands for," said Wambach. "Not only has Kennedy impressed on the field, but she's also a good student and is a positive influence in the community. I'm excited to follow her career and see what she will accomplish in the future."

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Wesley as the nation's best high school girls soccer player. A national advisory panel comprised of sport-specific experts and sports journalists helped select Wesley from nearly 375,000 high school girls soccer players nationwide. Wesley is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Female High School Athlete of the Year award, to be presented at a special ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.

The 5-foot-6 sophomore midfielder scored 22 goals and passed for nine assists this past season, leading the Valley Christian Crusaders to a 25-3-3 record and both the Southern Section Division 6 and the Southern California Division V Regional tournament championships. Rated as the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2019 by TopDrawerSoccer.com, Wesley is a member of the U.S. Soccer Under-17 Women's National Team and was the Southern Section Division 6 Player of the Year.

A violinist and former gymnast, Wesley has volunteered locally collecting and supplying goods to the homeless, and she has donated her time as a youth camp counselor. Wesley has maintained a weighted 4.02 GPA in the classroom.

"Kennedy Wesley is a rare talent on the soccer field," says TopDrawerSoccer Rankings Expert J.R. Eskilson. "She can play anywhere on defense to any spot in the midfield. That versatility requires a unique skillset and she's expert at controlling the ball with close, composed touches. She passes with excellent technique and superb awareness of her surroundings. Her greatest attribute is her competitive drive, which has allowed her to enjoy unparalleled success at the club, high school, and international level."

Wesley has made a verbal commitment to play soccer on scholarship at Stanford University beginning in the fall of 2019.

"Kennedy embodies everything we look for in a Gatorade Player of the Year recipient," said Gatorade Senior Vice President and General Manager Brett O'Brien. "In addition to being one of the best high school girls soccer players in the country, Kennedy has excelled in the classroom and been a positive influence in her community. She is a role model for younger student-athletes to look up to and we are excited to see all the things she will accomplish in the future."

  
U15 ECNL Championship: So Cal Blues 7-2 Solar Chelsea SC

So Cal Blues concluded a perfect club soccer season on Saturday in front of a rowdy home crowd. The Blues won over 30 games without suffering a loss or draw along the way. In the ECNL U15 National Championship on Saturday against Solar Chelsea SC, Blues scored 40 seconds into the game and never took their collective foot off the gas. The final ended up with a 7-2 result in favor of So Cal as the swarming pressure and clinical finishing was too much for the Texas side.

The conclusion of the season hardly a surprise for any who follow youth soccer. This Blues team has been so dominant this season that they finished the campaign with an average of over five goals scored per game. Solar, the 2016 U14 USYS National Champions, were the closes thing to a worthy challenger that Blues have seen recently. The champions were eager for the challenger, but the Blues attacking trio of Reilyn Turner, Trinity Moyer-Rodman, and Simone Jackson proved to be too much even for that Solar storied defense.

The Blues’ style of play of high-pressure and quick distribution is forcing other teams to improve in order to compete. The Blues’ plus 147 goal differential at the end of the season is evidence that not many teams could meet that challenge. Saturday’s masterpiece - which was a bit of revenge as Blues head coach Greg Baker referenced as the last time this group lost a game, the USYS championship last July - was a fitting conclusion to what the winning group had been working together to achieve over the past few seasons. The group executed in the important moments and made the opponent work hard for any semblance of success in the tussle.

Midfield standout Tatum Lenain scored the opener in the first minute of the game. Solar spent the final 20 minutes of warm-up prior to kick-off working on dealing with aerial balls against the back four. The preparation helped the group knock down the first cross of the game, but it landed with Lenain who hammered it home for her second goal of the weekend. The opening goal only increased the intensity of the pressure from Blues Turned made it 2-0 Blues only a few minutes later.

Solar tried to stick to the game plan of building around the pressure with quick passing and clever movement off the ball, but the hustle and commitment of the Blues attacking trio in defending is nearly impossible to replicate in training. And the Blues defense rarely keeps the ball long enough for the opposition to find a shape and take a breath.

Moyer-Rodman scored in the 20th minute on her first chance of the game. The forward missed the 6-0 win over Slammers in the semifinal due to injury. She hardly looked like she was hampered on Saturday, as she buried her first shot with expert precision.

The best chance for Solar came late in the first half when Alexis Missimo and Trinity Byars linked up through the center and sent Byars in behind the defense but she could not convert the chance.

With a 3-0 lead at the break, the Blues were in prime position to finish off the game in the opening minutes of the second stanza with the wave of attacking talent that ill be remembered fondly in the history books. However, Missimo had the first chance after the teams switched ends and looked like she had pulled one back, but a tremendous diving save from Ryan Campbell kept Solar off the scoreboard.

Moyer-Rodman answered back with her second goal of the game and put Blues up 4-0 in the 50th minute of the National Championship game. Jackson made it 5-0 in the 55th minute before Solar grabbed one back in the 57h via No. 6 off an assist from Byars. Jackson added another for Blues to make it 6-1 as Blues seemed to just be teeing off on the net at will through the final stages of the game.

Missimo grabbed her consolation goal, a tremendous bending effort from near the corner of the 18-yard box to the inside of the far post, to make it 6-2 with eight minutes left. Blues are never satisfied with a score until the final whistle and kept pushing for another one. Alexandria Wright took the honor of scoring the final goal of the game as the utility player was rewarded for a great weekend with a goal in the 77th minute.

Blues celebrated the title with fans and family rushing the field upon the final whistle from the center referee. The champions ended the weekend with 13 goals scored and only two conceded against the best that the rest of the country had to offer.

  

This is amazing; we wanted to let everyone know that one of our Blues players, Samantha Williams from the 2001 Baker team, represents KidsKickBack a foundation she formed that collects unwanted soccer cleats and athletic shoes to donate to kids in need around the world. Please feel free to contact Samantha if you have donations or would like to get involved. For more information about her foundation please visit kidskickback.org

  
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