ESPN RISE

In its third decade of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, Gatorade joined with RISE Magazine to name junior forward NATALIE LECLAIR of ESSEX HIGH in Essex Junction as its 2007-08 Vermont Girls' Soccer Player of the Year.

The junior forward scored 14 goals and added nine assists this past fall, leading the Hornets (15-1-2) to the Division I state championship. An All-New England selection by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, LeClair had a hat trick in a 4-0 win over Bellows Free Academy-Saint Albans in the first round of the postseason. She scored the game-winning goal in both a quarterfinals meeting with Colchester and a semifinals match with Mount Anthony. LeClair contributed an assist in a 2-0 win over Burlington in the state title game. A First Team All-State selection by the Burlington Free Press, she will enter her senior season with 36 goals and 23 assists in her career.

LeClair has maintained an A-minus average in the classroom. In addition to volunteering as an instructor at youth soccer and gymnastics clinics, she participates in multiple community-service initiatives on behalf of her church. She also has donated her time reading to kindergartners as part of a youth literacy mentoring program.

"Natalie is extremely quick and very dangerous once she gets the ball because she has such good skills," said Lori McClallen, head coach at rival Rutland High. "She reads the field well, she makes great runs, she's an all-around strong player. Whenever we play her we just hope she doesn't get the ball very often."

LeClair will begin her senior year of high school this fall and remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.