Kelsey Major of Dominican named 2020-21 Gatorade Louisiana Girls Soccer Player of the Year

CHICAGO — In its 36th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Kelsey Major of St. Mary’s Dominican High School as its 2020-21 Gatorade Louisiana Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Major is the third Gatorade Louisiana Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from St. Mary’s Dominican 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 Major 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, Major joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, 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 of 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-5 junior forward scored 26 goals and passed for 19 assists this past season, leading St. Mary’s Dominican (22-1-1) to the Division 1 state final. The state’s Gatorade Player of the Year winner in girls cross country this past fall, Major was a First Team All-State honoree, the Division 1 Offensive Player of the Year and a United Soccer Coaches All-Region selection.

Major is a three-year member of her school’s Student Leadership Council, as well as the Spanish Club, Spanish Honor Society, National English Honor Society and National Honor Society. An active member of her St. Pius X church community, she also donates her time mentoring youth soccer players with her club team. “Kelsey Major is outstanding,” said Kyle Carmouche, head coach at St. Joseph’s Catholic High. “She has a great shot, but she was equally a threat in how she split lines and how she helped her team attack. She’s effective in multiple positions.”

Major has maintained a weighted 4.67 GPA in the classroom. She will begin her senior year of high school 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 the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, 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.

Major joins recent Gatorade Louisiana Girls Soccer Players of the Year Jordan Grigsby (2019-20, Northshore High School), Maddie Moreau (2018-19, St. Thomas More Catholic High School), Sydney Vincens (2017-18, St. Scholastica Academy), and Audrey Viso (2016-17, St. Joseph’s Academy), among the state’s list of former award winners.

Through Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Major has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing. Major is also eligible to submit a 30-second video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $2.7 million across 1,117 organizations.

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 playeroftheyear.gatorade.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade.