Waubonsie soccer star wins Gatorade honor

Bri Rodriguez of Waubonsie Valley High School has been selected at the 2007-08 Gatorade Illinois Girls Soccer Player of the Year.

The award, presented by The Gatorade Co. in partnership with RISE Magazine, recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.

Rodriguez, along with her fellow spring soccer season Gatorade State Players of the Year, is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in May.

The 5-foot-2 junior forward scored 8 goals and added 16 assists, leading the Warriors to a 15-0-1 record and the top spot in the Daily Herald's girls soccer poll. The returning Player of the Year as named by the Daily Herald, Rodriguez had totaled 34 goals and 51 assists in her career at the time of her selection.

She helped Waubonsie Valley win the Class AA state championship in 2007, when the Warriors finished 30-0-1 and earned the No. 1 ranking in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. An NSCAA All-American, Rodriguez is a member of the United States Soccer Federation Under-16 Women's National Team.

Rodriguez has maintained a B average in the classroom. She participates in multiple community-service initiatives, volunteering as a youth soccer instructor on behalf of the Illinois Youth Soccer Association Olympic Development Program and PlayUSA, a Chicago-based indoor soccer facility.

"Her skill, it looks like how Brazil plays against the United States with her skill on ball," said Waubonsie Valley Head Coach Julie Bergstrom. "She is one of the best passers. She can play the ball to teammates with the right texture to make you look good. She makes everyone else around her look good-that's the sign of a great player."

Rodriguez will begin her senior year of high school next fall and has verbally committed to a soccer scholarship at West Virginia University in 2009.