CHICAGO (Press Release) — In its 34th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Maddie Moreau of St. Thomas More Catholic High School as its 2018-19 Gatorade Louisiana Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Moreau is the third Gatorade Louisiana Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from St. Thomas More Catholic 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 Moreau as Louisiana’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 June, Moreau joins an elite alumni association of past state soccer award-winners, including Alexi Lalas (1987-88, Cranbrook High School, Mich.), Steve Cherundolo (1996-97, Mt. Carmel High School, Calif.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women, N.Y.), Heather O’Reilly (2001-02, 2002-03, East Brunswick High School, N.J.), Matt Besler (2004-05, Blue Valley West High School, Kans.), Jack Harrison (2013-14, Berkshire High School, Mass.) and Mallory Pugh (2014-15, Mountain Vista High School, Colo.)
The 5-foot-2 senior forward and midfielder scored 29 goals and passed for 15 assists this past season, leading the Cougars (19-3-3) to the Division 2 state championship. The Division 2 Offensive MVP, Moreau was also named District MVP and MVP of the state final.
A devoted member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Moreau has volunteered locally as a mentor for disabled children. “Maddie Moreau is one of the best players I’ve seen in the last 14 years,” said Sal Diesi, head coach at Beau Chene High. “She possesses speed that is unmatched by opponents and ball skills that are second to none.”
Moreau has maintained a 3.81 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer on scholarship at Louisiana State University 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. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.
Moreau joins recent Gatorade Louisiana Girls Soccer Players of the Year Sydney Vincens (2017-18, St. Scholastica Academy), Audrey Viso (2016-17, St. Joseph’s Academy), Cadie Higginson (2015-16, Ben Franklin High School), and Alex Thomas (2014-15 & 2013-14, Ben Franklin High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Moreau also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of her choosing. She is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook
