Former Woodside soccer standout Elise Evans is Gatorade state player of year

Evans becomes the second San Mateo County athlete in four wins to receive the honor. In 2019, Menlo’s Sophie Jones won the award. Evans will now go into the pool for Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year award.

A 5-7, all-around force who played all over the field for the Wildcats — but will focus on playing defender at Stanford — Evans helped guide both the 2021 and 2022 squad to the Central Coast Section Open Division bracket, as well as the 2022 Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division title with a record of 8-1-1 and an overall mark of 15-2-1. She scored 18 goals and notched four assists in just 12 games and was rated the top college recruit in the country by TopDrawerSoccer.com.

Despite missing her first two high school seasons, Evans said there was no animosity and the team welcomed her with open arms.

“When I first came into high school, I was told I wouldn’t have the opportunity to play high school soccer. That was super disappointing for me because I wanted to play for my school and with my friends,” Evans told the Daily Journal in March when she was named the newspaper’s Girls’ Soccer Athlete of the Year. “I’ve grown up around Woodside … and I’ve always been good friends with girls on the team, so I would go out to (watch) games.

“I wish I could keep playing more with my high school. … I think some of the girls understood (my availability predicament). I was very thankful to have the opportunity to play these last two seasons (at Woodside). … The team was super welcoming.”

Evans’ success on the field has helped her steadily move up the national team ladder, as well. She is currently a pool player for the US Women’s National Team U20 squad. She verbally committed to Stanford during her freshman year at Woodside and that’s when the hard work started. Evans knew a lot could change between her freshman and senior year and did not want to give the Stanford coaching staff any reason to change their minds about recruiting her.

“I knew I had a long way to go and there was a lot of hard work,” Evans said in that March interview. “I knew I didn’t want to change [my commitment]. I knew that’s where I wanted to be.”

Athletic performance is only one aspect of the Gatorade award. There is a service and leadership component to the honor and Evans checked all those boxes as well. She was class president her freshman, sophomore and junior years before becoming the school’s student body president her senior year.

She has also volunteered on the field as a youth coach and in her community as well, doing charitable work with her church group as well as helping distribute food to unhoused families.

“There’s not a ton of time (to get everything done), but I enjoy what I do and I have a great support system at home,” Evans said. “I also take it as motivation. I know this is not where I want to stop. I want to see how far I can push my ceiling.”

The Gatorade Player of the Year program was established in 1985 and annually recognizes the top high school athletes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, soccer, track and field, and volleyball.

All state winners are then eligible for the Gatorade National Player of the Year honor.