CHICAGO (June 13, 2019) — In its 34th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Keeley Bond of Chaparral High School as its 2018-19 Gatorade Arizona Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Bond is the first Gatorade Arizona Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Chaparral 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 Bond 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, Bond joins an elite alumni association of past state soccer award-winners, 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 for 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-7 senior defender and midfielder led the Firebirds to a 20-2-2 record and a third straight Conference 6A state championship this past season. Bond recorded 14 goals and four assists, including both scores in Chaparral’s 2-1 win over Perry in the state final. A First Team All-State selection, she also anchored a defense that allowed just 13 goals and pitched 14 shutouts.

Bond has volunteered locally with Feed My Starving Children and as a youth soccer referee. “Keeley controlled games and was impactful both on offense and on defense,” said Eddie Hertsenberg, head coach of Hamilton High. “When Keeley was not on the field for Chaparral they were a different team. She is a complete player.”

Bond has maintained a weighted 4.12 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer on scholarship at Arizona State University this fall.

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. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.

Bond joins recent Gatorade Arizona Girls Soccer Players of the Year Kyla Ferry (2017-18, Xavier College Prep), Erika Yost (2016-17, Fountain Hills High School), Kelsey Turnbow (2015-16, Pinnacle High School), Bri Hatch (2014-15, Highland High School) and Gabi Stoian (2013-14, Pinnacle High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.

As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Bond also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of her choosing. She is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.

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 www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.