CHICAGO (June 15, 2021) — In its 36th year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Mia Asenjo of Montverde Academy as its 2020-21 Gatorade Florida Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Asenjo is the first Gatorade Florida Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Montverde Academy.
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 Asenjo as Florida'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, Asenjo 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-8 senior forward led the Eagles to an 11-0 record this past season, including victories over the Class 7A and Class 3A state champions. Asenjo scored five goals and passed for four assists. A transfer from Valley Stream South High (N.Y.), she was a two-time All-State selection as an underclassmen. A member of the Women's National Team for the Dominican Republic, Asenjo is ranked as the nation's No. 55 recruit in the Class of 2021 by TopDrawerSoccer.com. She concluded her prep soccer career with 47 goals and 27 assists.
Asenjo has volunteered with the Outreach 360 Foundation in the Dominican Republic, teaching entrepreneurship and English to children. She is also a Voice in Sport Foundation Ambassador, advocating equity for female athletes around the country, and she has donated her time as a youth soccer coach. "Mia is a good attacking player—aggressive and direct," said Robbi Aristodemo, head coach of Montverde Academy. "She likes to take people on and score goals. She comes up with some big moments and plays when it matters."
Asenjo has maintained a weighted 3.73 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer on scholarship at the University of Central Florida 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.
Asenjo joins recent Gatorade Florida Girls Soccer Players of the Year Olivia Candelino (2019-20, The Bolles School), Kamy Loustau (2018-19, St. Johns Country Day School), Abbey Newton (2017-18, St. Johns Country Day School), and Bella Dorosy (2016-17, St. Thomas Aquinas High School), among the state's list of former award winners.
Through Gatorade's cause marketing platform "Play it Forward," Asenjo has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing. Asenjo 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.
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