CHICAGO (June 20, 2024) — In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Presley Freeman of West Forsyth High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade Georgia Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Freeman is the first Gatorade Georgia Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from West Forsyth 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 Freeman as Georgia’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 senior midfielder led the Wolverines to a 21-0-2 record and the Class 7A state championship this past season. Freeman scored nine goals and passed for 17 assists, netting West Forsyth’s lone regulation goal in a 2-1, shootout victory over Buford High School in the state final. The Region 6-7A Player of the Year, she’s a Class 7A First Team All-State selection.
Freeman has volunteered locally as part of canned goods drives and as a youth soccer coach. She has also donated her time to multiple community service events at Crabapple Market in Milton. “Presley was the best all-around player I saw this year,” said Ashley Veljovic, head coach of Peachtree Ridge High School and the 2007-08 Gatorade Georgia Girls Soccer Player of the Year. “She’s an absolute stud. Fit, strong, clinical, tactical and technical. She's the total package.”
Freeman has maintained an A-minus average in the classroom. She has signed a national letter of intent to play soccer on scholarship at Brigham Young 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. 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.
Freeman joins recent Gatorade Georgia Girls Soccer Players of the Year Solai Washington (2022-23, Chamblee High School), Riley Jackson (2021-22, Blessed Trinity Catholic High School), Henley Tippins (2020-21, Westminster School) and Nieva Gaither (2019-20, Parkview 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 us on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and X(Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.
