Portsmouth’s McGuire again named Gatorade Player of the Year

Marykate McGuire scored 31 goals in half a season. To me, that is just remarkable and unheard of.”

Martin Yarumian, head coach of Bay View Academy

PORTSMOUTH — For the third straight year, Portsmouth’s Marykate McGuire has been named the 2016-17 Gatorade Rhode Island Girls Soccer Player of the Year.

The 32nd annual 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 Miss McGuire as Rhode Island’s best high school girls soccer player. 

She is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in June.

The 5-foot-6 junior midfielder led the Patriots to a 17-2-2 record and the Division I state championship this past season. Ms. McGuire scored 31 goals and passed for nine assists despite missing the first 10 games of the season because of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League’s transfer rules.

Miss McGuire won the Gatorade award as a freshman at Portsmouth High and as a sophomore at St. George’s School in Middletown. An All-American selection by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, she concluded her junior year with 81 goals and 25 assists in her prep soccer career.

Ms. McGuire has volunteered locally as a youth soccer coach and as part of multiple community-service initiatives with her church youth group. 

“Marykate McGuire scored 31 goals in half a season; to me, that is just remarkable and unheard of,” said Martin Yarumian, head coach of Bay View Academy. “She was the reason the Portsmouth girls took the title again. She is the most dominant and impactful player in the league.”

Ms. McGuire, who’s maintained a 3.54 GPA in the classroom, has made a verbal commitment to play soccer on scholarship at Duke University beginning in the fall of 2018.

Paying it forward

As a Gatorade Player of the Year, Ms. McGuire will be able to select a national or local youth sports organization to receive a grant as part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program. Every Gatorade Player of the Year state winner receives a $1,000 grant to donate and will have the opportunity to enter for an additional $10,000 spotlight grant by writing a brief essay explaining why their selected organization deserves additional support. Twelve spotlight grants – one for each sport – will be announced throughout the year.

For more information, visit www.gatorade.com/poy.