Riverton’s Ashdown Named Gatorade Girls Soccer POY

Riverton Senior, and bound for UW Soccer, Marcia Ashdown has been named the 2012 Gatorade Girls Soccer Player of the Year in Wyoming.

CHICAGO (May 23, 2012) — In its 27th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPNHS,  announced Marcia Ashdown of Riverton High School as its 2011-12 Gatorade Wyoming Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Ashdown is the second Gatorade Wyoming Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Riverton High School.

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 Ashdown as Wyoming’s best high school girls soccer player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in May, Ashdown joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Alexi Lalas (1987-88, Cranbrook HS, Mich.), Heather O’Reilly (2001-02, East Brunswick HS, N.J.) and Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.).

The 5-foot-8 senior forward scored 29 goals and passed for six assists this past season, leading the Wolverines (8-9-2) to the Class 4A state tournament. Ashdown is a two-time First Team All-State selection and owns the school records for goals in a season (35) and career (84).

Ashdown has maintained a 3.50 GPA in the classroom. A devoted member of her church youth group and a peer mentor in her school, she has volunteered locally on behalf of youth sports programs.

“Ashdown is smart and quick and you can’t let her get anywhere near the net,” said Tracy Wyant, head coach at rival Green River High. “She’s a very dangerous threat for that team.”

Ashdown has signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer on scholarship at the University of Wyoming this fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by ESPNHS and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Ashdown joins recent Gatorade Wyoming Girls Soccer Players of the Year Sheree Small (2010 – 11, Campbell County High School), Makenzie Meade, (2009-10, Laramie), Ariela Schreibeis (2007-08 & 2008–09 Laramie), and Crystal Umphlett (2006-07, Cody) among the state’s list of former award winners.

To keep up to date on the latest happenings, become a fan of Gatorade Player of the Year on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a complete list of past winners, and the announcement of the Gatorade National Player of the Year, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.

###

Past School Winner

2000-01 Enedina Vasco