Taylor Suarez of Ardrey Kell picks up second straight N.C. Gatorade Player of the Year Award in girls soccer

Suarez had 36 goals and 33 assists in helping lead Ardrey Kell to the 4-A state championship.

Taylor Suarez of Ardrey Kell High School is the 2022-23 Gatorade North Carolina Girls Soccer Player of the Year, the second straight year Suarez has received the honor.

Suarez is the first Gatorade North Carolina Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Ardrey Kell High School. 

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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 Suarez as North Carolina’s best high school girls soccer player. 

She is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in June.

Suarez, a 5-foot-5 junior forward, led the Knights to a 25-3-1 record and the NCHSAA  4-A state championship this past season. 

Suarez scored 36 goals and passed for 33 assists, and netted a goal and two assists in Ardrey Kell’s 3-2 win over Ashley High in the state title game. 

The 2023 North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association’s Player of the Year, she concluded her junior year with 73 goals and 59 assists in her prep soccer career. 

A member of her school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter, Suarez has volunteered locally as a youth soccer referee. 

“She is one of the two best female field players I have come across in my 20-plus years coaching,” said Coach Bucky McCarley of Myers Park High School. “She has tremendous pace, but it’s her soccer IQ and technical skill that make her an absolutely amazing player. She is ruthless in the final (offensive) third.” 

Suarez has maintained a weighted 3.83 GPA in the classroom. She has made a verbal commitment to play soccer on scholarship at Florida State University beginning in the fall of 2024.

Two-time winner Suarez joins recent Gatorade North Carolina Girls Soccer Players of the Year Asha Means (2020- 21, Lake Norman Charter High School), Ayden Yates (2019-20, Lake Norman Charter High School), and Marissa Hart (2018-19, Providence Day School), among the state’s list of former award winners.