Bay’s Tessa Knapp named Gatorade Ohio Girls Soccer Player of the Year
In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade has announced Tessa Knapp of Bay High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade Ohio Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
Knapp is the first Gatorade Ohio Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Bay High School.
The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Knapp as Ohio’s best high school girls soccer player.
From CEOs and coaches to star athletes, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase the power of sport, touting an all-star group of alumni that includes Aly Wagner (1997-98, Presentation High School, Calif.), Mallory Swanson (2014-15, Mountain Vista High School, Colo.) and Kennedy Fuller (2022-23 & 2021-22, Southlake Carroll High School, Texas).
The 5-foot-7 junior forward scored 58 goals and passed for 17 assists during the fall season, leading the Rockets (19-3-1) to the Division II state semifinals.
A member of the U.S. Soccer Under-17 Women’s National Team, Knapp is a two-time First-Team All-State selection and a two-time United Soccer Coaches All-American honoree. Ranked as the nation’s No. 29 recruit in the Class of 2025 by TopDrawerSoccer.com, she concluded her junior year with 148 goals and 38 assists in her prep soccer career.
Knapp has volunteered locally on behalf of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and as a youth soccer coach. She has also donated her time as a peer math and science tutor.
“What separates Tessa is her explosiveness and dynamic impact on the ball,” said Jason Rutkowski, head coach of Medina High School. “She has all the tools in the tool chest, but when she touches it the explosiveness and absolute fear she imposes on opposing teams is uncommon.”
Knapp has maintained a weighted 4.13 GPA in the classroom. She has made a verbal commitment to play soccer on scholarship at the University of Notre Dame beginning in the fall of 2025.
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. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Knapp joins recent Gatorade Ohio Girls Soccer Players of the Year Emma Stransky (2022-23, Copley High School), Peyton Kohls (2021-22, Mount Notre Dame High School), Taylor Huff (2020-21, Madison Comprehensive High School) and Kailyn Dudukovich (2019-20, Lakota West High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $4.9 million in grants to winners across more than 1,900 organizations.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow Gatorade on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and X(Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.
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