CHICAGO (June 15, 2021) — In its 36th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Maggie Cagle of Arcadia High School as its 2020-21 Gatorade Arizona Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Cagle is the first Gatorade Arizona Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Arcadia 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 Cagle as Arizona’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, Cagle 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 midfielder scored 14 goals and passed for 12 assists this past season, leading the Titans (8-6) to the Conference 5A state tournament. A two-time First Team All-State selection, Cagle has been a member of the U.S. Soccer Under-16 Girls National Team in the past. Ranked as the nation’s No. 29 recruit in the Class of 2022 by TopDrawerSoccer.com, she concluded her junior year with 34 goals and 24 assists in her prep soccer career.

Cagle has volunteered locally as a peer tutor and as a youth soccer referee in addition to donating her time to multiple community service initiatives through her church youth group. “Maggie caused a lot of problems for us,” said Kyle Pooler, head coach of Liberty High. “Her vision and ability to get her teammates the ball was outstanding. She also has the ability to put the ball on frame from any distance. She is a very special player.”

Cagle has maintained a weighted 4.70 GPA in the classroom. She has made a verbal commitment to play soccer on scholarship at the University of Virginia beginning in the fall of 2022.

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.

Cagle joins recent Gatorade Arizona Girls Soccer Players of the Year Isabella Struckman (2019-20, Chaparral High School), Keeley Bond (2018-19, Chaparral High School), Kyla Ferry (2017-18, Xavier College Preparatory), and Erika Yost (2016-17, Fountain Hills High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

Through Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Cagle has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing. Cagle 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.