Photo courtesy of VT Athletics – Freshmen Averi Visage and Ayden Yates have picked up prestigious awards before coming to Blacksburg.
Over the last month, two incoming Virginia Tech women’s soccer freshmen, Averi Visage and Ayden Yates, have received national honors from two prestigious organizations.
Visage was recently named a United Soccer Coaches Winter/Spring Girls All-American. Yates was named 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 for 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 their coming onto campus and making an impact similar to what they did for their high schools and previous clubs.”
A 5-foot-10 midfielder from Harrison High School, Visage was one of 26 females to be named to the coaches’ All-American team. She was an All-Atlantic Region team member as well. For the Hoyas, she earned three varsity letters playing under Coach Jonathan Gross. As a junior, she was the team captain and MVP. She was also the captain of the team for the 2020 spring season, which was not completed.
Harrison High was the 6A Georgia state champion in 2017 and lost in the title game in 2019. Visage 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.
A 5-foot-6 forward from Lake Norman Charter High School, Yates 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.
Yates‘ award as the North Carolina Girls Soccer Player of the Year 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 contributed to her selection.
