From Press Release:
RIVERVIEW HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-ATHLETE NAMED GATORADE PENNSYLVANIA GIRLS SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CHICAGO (June 20, 2024) — In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Lola Abraham of Riverview High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade Pennsylvania Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Abraham is the first Gatorade Pennsylvania Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Riverview High School.
The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Abraham as Pennsylvania’s best high school girls soccer player. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase the power of sport, touting an all-star group of alumni that includes Aly Wagner (1997-98, Presentation High School, Calif.), Mallory Swanson (2014-15, Mountain Vista High School, Colo.) and Kennedy Fuller (2022-23 & 2021-22, Southlake Carroll High School, Texas).
The 5-foot-4 senior midfielder scored 77 goals and passed for 20 assists this past season, leading the Raiders (22-4) to the Class 1A state championship game. Abraham recorded a hat trick in 18 of the 25 games she played, including 12 four-goal games and one five-goal game. The Moe Rosensteel Most Outstanding Player Award winner as the top player in Western Pennsylvania, Abraham is a two-time First Team All-State selection. She concluded her three-year prep soccer career with 176 goals and 37 assists.
A member of the Riverview student council, Abraham has volunteered locally as part of multiple community service initiatives in association with her school’s Key Club and she’s donated her time as a youth soccer coach and referee. “Lola is a fantastic player who has the ability to take over any game she plays in,” said Marc Bentley, head coach of Springdale High School. “She reads the game very well, covers a lot of ground quickly and scores a variety of goals from different positions on the field.”
Abraham has maintained a 4.2 weighted GPA in the classroom. She has signed a national letter of intent to play soccer on scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh 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 leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Abraham joins recent Gatorade Pennsylvania Girls Soccer Players of the Year Loren Gehret (2022-23, Southern Columbia High School), Halle Engle (2021-22, Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School) and Ellie Coffield (2020-21 & 2019-20, Mars Area High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $4.9 million in grants to winners across more than 1,900 organizations