BLACKSBURG – Over the last month, two incoming Virginia Tech women's soccer freshmen have been tabbed with national honors from two prestigious organizations. Averi Visage was just recently named a United Soccer Coaches Winter/Spring Girls All-American while in June, Ayden Yates was selected as the Gatorade North Carolina Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
"We were excited to hear the news and very proud of both Averi and Ayden on getting those awards" Virginia Tech head coach Chugger Adair said. "This just shows the quality of the student-athletes that we bring into Virginia Tech and we're looking forward to them coming into campus and making a similar impact here that they did for their high schools and previous clubs."
Visage, a 5-foot-10 midfielder from Harrison High School, was one of 26 females to earn the award, as she was an All-Atlantic Region team member as well (Click here for full team). For the Hoyas, she earned three varsity letters playing under coach Jonathan Gross. As a junior, she was the team's captain and MVP, and was the captain of the team for the 2020 spring season, which was not competed.
Harrison previously won regional titles in both 2017 and 2019, was the 6A Georgia state champions in 2017 and lost in the title game in 2019. The Acworth, Georgia, native also played for the Concorde Fire Platinum ECNL for the past two seasons, a team that was Southeast Conference champions after the 2018-19 season and made an ECNL national playoff appearance.
Yates, a 5-foot-6 forward from Lake Norman Charter High School, recorded six goals and two assists this spring, leading the Knights to a 3-0-1 record before the season was cancelled. A three-time First Team All-State selection, Yates is ranked as the nation's No. 191 recruit in the Class of 2020 by TopDrawerSoccer.com. She concluded her prep soccer career with 144 goals and 68 assists.
The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field. Yates volunteering efforts and strong GPA in the classroom attributed to her designation. (Click here for full release).