KC area high school girls soccer players in elite national spotlight

The quality of high school girls soccer in the Kansas City area this season was no secret, with St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Teresa’s Academy and Blue Valley Northwest all finishing the season ranked among the top 15 squads in the nation by StudentSports.com.

As a result, the national awards earned by players in the Kansas City area have come as no surprise to St. Thomas Aquinas coach Craig Ewing.

“With St. Teresa’s and (Aquinas) in the top 10, and Blue Valley Northwest close behind, that’s about as good as it has ever been in Kansas City,” Ewing said. “Then you see all the area commitments to good colleges too, and that is another indication.”

After winning the Kansas Class 5A state championship, Aquinas junior forward and Marquette University commit Jamie Kutey led the honorees on the Kansas side, repeating as a National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-American selection.

She is joined on the All-American list by Blue Valley North junior midfielder Parker Roberts, who is headed to the University of Miami. Roberts was also recently tabbed as the Gatorade Kansas Player of the Year.

“In Kansas, we had two All-Americans that were juniors and a lot of talented seniors in the area, so I think that is another comment on the quality of the area,” Ewing said.

St. Teresa’s landed two players on the All-American list, including Mission native and junior forward Dorian Bailey, who won the Gatorade Player of the Year honor for Missouri. Her teammate, Savannah Trujillo, also made the list as a midfielder.

Aquinas also produced two NSCAA Scholar Athlete All-Americans, midfielder Mary Disidore and forward Kelly Sweeney. According to Ewing, in order to be eligible for the award, athletes had to be named first team all-state and have a minimum unweighted grade-point average of 3.85.

This story was originally published July 15, 2014 at 5:17 PM with the headline "KC area high school girls soccer players in elite national spotlight."