Zoey Bouchelle, a senior midfielder from Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson, Md., and Conrad Taylor, a senior goalkeeper from Liberty High School in Colorado Springs, Colo., have been named the 2003 NSCAA/adidas High School Scholar Athletes of the Year.
A three-time NSCAA/adidas All-America, Bouchelle, from Cockeysville, Md., claims the NSCAA/adidas Girls High School Scholar Athlete of the Year award with an unweighted 3.98 grade point average. The Maryland State Player of the Year in 2003 and was Parade All-American in 2002, she is a four-time All-City-County, All-Metro and All-State selection. She is co-editor of her high school newspaper and has served as an athletic association representative for three years.
Playing club soccer for the Bethesda (Md.) Dragons, she helped the team to a pair of Region I championships and a berth in the 2003 US Youth Soccer National Championships. She has gained a wealth of international experience, playing in England, Scotland, Germany and Holland with a variety of all-star teams, as well as a tour of France with the U.S. Women’s U-16 National Team in 2001. She currently is in the U-19 National Pool.
She has taken advanced placement coursework in micro/macroeconomics, Spanish and calculus. In addition to her soccer and school activities, Bouchelle is a volunteer in a nursing home and will travel to Mississippi in March to work with Habitat for Humanity. Undecided on a major, she will attend Penn State.
Boosted by advanced placement coursework in three different classes, Taylor has posted a 4.167 grade point average while excelling on the soccer field. A four-year varsity letterman, he has logged 31 shutouts in his high school careering, including a state record 12 in playoff games. A Wendy’s High School Heisman nominee, he has twice won all-state and academic all-state honors and had a 0.33 goals-against average through his junior season.
In club play, he is a team captain for the Colorado Rush, which claimed the 2003 state championship and runner-up finishes in the Far West Regionals and the U.S. Club Nationals. A 2003 adidas ESP All-Star and Bronze Glove winner, he was an NSCAA/adidas Youth All-America in 2002. He also serves as a youth soccer coach.
A National Honor Society member and recipient of its Order of the Crest, he ranks 23rd in his class of 333. He will attend Penn State University, where he will study kinesiology with a goal of becoming an athletic trainer.
The two will be honored at the NSCAA/adidas All-America Luncheon, to be held Saturday, Jan. 17, as part of the 2004 NSCAA Convention in Charlotte, N.C. As the NSCAA/adidas High School Scholar Athletes of the Year, each of them also will receive a $500 scholarship from the Walt Chyzowych Foundation, an organization that honors the memory of one of America's soccer coaching pioneers.
