PENNINGTON:Kerr is top player in NJ

By Steve Sherman

Sports Editor

Pennington midfielder Kaitlyn Kerr has been named the 2008-09 Gatorade New Jersey Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
That makes Kerr a finalist for the Gatorade National Player of the Year award, which will be announced in May. ESPN RISE named Kerr the top player in the Garden State on Feb. 12.
A Pennington School junior from Bensalem, Kerr was selected for her offensive output and the role it played in helping the Red Raiders to a sixth straight NJISAA Prep A state championship.
When Pennington lost standout forward Amber Brooks to the U17 National Team, Kerr stepped up to deliver a perfect season and a FAB 50 national No. 1 ranking.
Kerr scored 19 goals and chipped in 16 assists, leading the Red Raiders to a 17-0-1 fall 2008 campaign. She is a six-year member of the U.S. Youth Soccer Region I Olympic Development Program team.
Kerr, who has 37 goals and 31 assists in her career, has verbally committed to play soccer at Duke University in the fall of 2010. She has also been named All-American first team by ESPN and ranked one of the nation’s top 10 players with only four of them females.
Kerr is also a standout on her club team, the FC Bucks Vipers. FC Bucks head coach Eddie Leigh had high praise for Kaitlyn.
“Whatever you need, she’ll give you,” said Leigh. “If I need her to defend, she’ll defend. If I need her in the box to score, she’ll do that. Her strong point is from the 18 yard line to the opposite 18 yard line.
“Whatever needs to be done to win, she does it.”
The Gatorade designation is not strictly an athletic endorsement of a player, however. The honor, rather, recognizes playing accomplishments along with academic achievement and exemplary character exhibited both on and off the field.
In addition to her 3.75 GPA, Kerr is a Pennington School campus guide who has participated in fundraising events benefiting cancer research. She’s also volunteered at area nursing homes and local rehab centers.
Kerr joins recent Gatorade New Jersey Girls Soccer Player of the Year recipients Shannon Mayrose (2007-08, Freehold), Ingrid Wells (2006-07, Montclair) and Marissa Stock (2005-06, Pingry).
The Gatorade Player of the Year program 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.
The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE which works with top sport specific experts, and a media advisory board of veteran journalists to determine state winners in each sport.
For more information, visit Gatorade.com/playeroftheyear.