Valley Christian's Kennedy Wesley named Gatorade Soccer Player of the Year

Valley Christian sophomore Kennedy Wesley showed up to the practice field on campus on Wednesday thinking she was doing a photo shoot and interviews for an ESPN article.

However, early in her workout, two-time Olympic champion and 2015 FIFA World Cup Champion Abby Wambach appeared and asked her if she wanted to do some drills. Midway through one of her drills, Wambach pulled out the 2016-17 Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year trophy and presented it to an ecstatic Wesley.

“I was in total awe,” Wesley said. “I had no idea I was getting the award.”

Wesley, who was announced as the Gatorade Califoia Girls Soccer Player of the Year on Monday, led Valley Christian to a 25-3-3 record and helped the Crusaders win their first CIF Southe Section championship since 2007 with a 3-1 victory over Grace Brethren in the Division 6 title game on March 4. She had 22 goals and nine assists during the season.

“It couldn’t have been better,” Wesley said. “Everything tued out to be so good with the high school and personal achievements. Everything was just in the right place.”

Wesley was able to spend some time with Wambach over lunch before the Stanford commit did a couple of photo shoots with the trophy as well as television interviews.

“She is amazing,” Wambach said. “She is symbolic of what the future of women’s soccer is going to be. Not only that but she is symbolic of what the future of women’s sports can be and it’s up to her if she can find the passion and find the inspiration within herself to realize that it’s bigger than her.”

Gatorade presented the award to Wesley in a school ceremony at 2:30 p.m., allowing all of her friends, family, and Valley Christian community to embrace the magnitude of the award. Wesley became the first sophomore to win the girls soccer national player of the year award since Gatorade created the award in 1985.

Wesley has a busy summer full of soccer including a trip with the U.S. Soccer Under-17 Women’s National Team to China in a couple of weeks.

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