Rocky Mountain’s Oyler wins not 1, not 2 … but 5 Idaho soccer player of the year awards
Kelsey Oyler has already joined the Gonzaga women’s soccer team. But Rocky Mountain High’s prolific midfielder received one last high school award Tuesday, repeating as the Gatorade Idaho Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
The all-class player of the year honor follows a senior season where Oyler led Rocky Mountain (15-1) to its third straight state championship, a first for any 5A team since Idaho began sponsoring an official state tournament.
She racked up 19 goals and 29 assists in a shortened season due to the coronavirus pandemic, giving her 66 goals and 69 assists in her decorated career. She played in the high school all-American game last month.
“Kelsey is the real deal,” Mountain View coach Alyssa Wolf said in a news release. “She is such a dangerous player. She is able to read the field so well, which makes her so unpredictable.”
The Gatorade award is the fifth state player of the year honor of her high school career.
Oyler was also elected the 5A girls soccer player of the year by the state’s coaches last fall. She previously won the 5A and all-class player of the year from the state’s coaches in 2019. The coaches’ association did not select an all-class player of the year last fall, or else Oyler might have six player of the year awards on her mantle.
Oyler graduated from Rocky Mountain early with a 3.96 GPA before signing with and joining the Gonzaga women’s soccer program for the spring semester.
Other recent winners include Bishop Kelly’s Lauren Elwer (2018-19), Centennial’s Makayla Christensen (2017-18) and Weiser’s Lauren Bouvia (2016-17 and 2015-16). Oyler, Bouvia and Sofia Huerta are the only Idaho girls soccer players to win the award multiple times since it started in 1997-98.
Caldwell’s Damian Arguello was named the Idaho boys soccer player of the year last week. Gatorade plans to announce its softball player of the year June 22.
