Colin Iverson Named Gatorade Illinois Boys Soccer Player of the Year

Bowling Green State University men's soccer commit Colin Iverson has been named the 2018-19 Gatorade Boys Soccer Player of the Year for the state of Illinois, the Gatorade Company recently announced. Iverson, who signed a National Letter of Intent to attend BGSU in November of 2018, will enter his freshman year at the University in 2019-20.

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 Iverson as Illinois's best high school boys soccer player. The Naperville, Ill., native is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year award, which will be announced later in June.

The 6-4 defender led Naperville North H.S. to a 26-0 record and a second-straight Class 3A state championship in the fall of 2018. Iverson had 18 goals and eight assists, including the lone score in North's 1-0 overtime win over Lake Park H.S. in the state title game. He also anchored a defense that allowed only five goals all season and just one in seven postseason matches.

The Chicagoland Soccer State Player of the Year as well, Iverson concluded his prep soccer career with 45 goals and 21 assists. In the classroom, Iverson maintained a weighted 4.18 grade-point average.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 stats that sanction high school football, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track and field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. From those 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year.

Iverson is the sixth Naperville North product to be named the Gatorade Illinois Boys Soccer Player of the Year. That list includes his former and future teammate, Chris Sullivan, who earned the honor in the 2016-17 academic year.

As part of Gatorade's cause marketing platform "Play it Forward," Iverson also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grand to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing.

Since the program's inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships. More information about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including past winners and info on nominating student-athletes, can be found on the web at www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY and Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.

BGSU ended the 2018 season with an overall record of 6-7-4, and head coach Eric Nichols and the Falcons posted a 2-1-2 mark in MAC play. BG, picked to place fifth in the six-team conference, finished second and earned a first-round bye for the league tourney. The Falcons have finished second in the conference twice in the last three seasons. BG went 5-1-2 over the final eight contests of the regular season, including a six-match unbeaten streak, the program's longest since 1997.

For more information on the men's soccer program, follow the Falcons on Twitter (@BGAthletics and @BGSUmenssoccer), Instagram (bgsumenssoccer) and Facebook (BGMensSoccer) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.

portions of this release courtesy of the Gatorade Company

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results