Marist School Standout Named Gatorade Georgia Girls Soccer Player of the Year

CHICAGO (May 12, 2009) — In its third decade of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in partnership with ESPN RISE, today announced Laura Eddy of Marist School as its 2008-09 Gatorade Georgia Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Eddy is the first Gatorade Georgia Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Marist 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 Eddy as Georgia’s best high school girls soccer player. Eddy is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in May.

The 5-foot-8 senior forward scored the game-winning goal for the War Eagles (21-1) as they edged Whitewater, 4-3, to win their second straight Class AAAA state championship last week. A 2008 All-American selection by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Eddy led Marist in scoring each of the last three years, finishing the 2009 season with 34 goals and 18 assists.

Eddy has maintained a 3.49 GPA in the classroom. A full-time nanny in the summertime, Eddy has volunteered as a local youth soccer coach, at an area soup kitchen and on behalf of Habitat for Humanity.

“What Laura Eddy really brings is excellent touch on the ball and ball-control, which allows her to be really creative under pressure,” said Ellie Davis, Eddy’s coach club with Tophat Gold. “She’s also really creative in distributing the ball. It helps that she reads the game very well. She sees space that most players couldn’t see. She’s a lot of fun to watch and a lot of fun to play with.”

Eddy has signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer on scholarship at the University of Georgia 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. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE, which works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

Eddy joins recent Gatorade Georgia Girls Soccer Players of the Year Ashley Baker (2007-08, Parkview), Marah Falle (2006-07, Parkview), and Kelley O'Hara (2005-06, Starr's Mill) among the state’s list of former award winners.

For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a list of past winners, and the announcement of the Gatorade National Player of the Year, visit gatorade.com/playeroftheyear.