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WOODSTOCK — In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade announced recently Alvaro Medrano Lopez of The Woodstock Academy is the 2023-24 Gatorade Connecticut Boys Soccer Player of the Year. Medrano Lopez is the first Gatorade Connecticut Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from The Woodstock Academy.
The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Medrano Lopez as Connecticut’s best high school boys’ soccer player. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase the power of sport, touting an all-star group of alumni that includes Lyle Yorks (1987-88, E.O. Smith High School, Conn.), Alecko Eskandarian (1999-00, Bergen Catholic High School, N.J.) and Ben Bender (2019-20, Calvert Hall College High School, Md.).
The 6-foot, 1-inch, 180-pound junior goalkeeper led the Centaurs to a 15-0-1 record and the Prep Premier League Tournament championship this past season. Lopez conceded just seven goals and recorded 11 shutouts. A member of the Guatemalan Under-20 Men’s National Team, he won the Prep Premier League Golden Gloves Award as the league’s top goalie and was named First Team All-State by the Connecticut Soccer Coaches Association.
Lopez has volunteered locally at an eldercare facility and has donated his time to multiple community service initiatives through his church. “Alvaro made several key saves in games against us and several games that I watched,” said Evan Prybutok, head coach of the Phelps School. “While Woodstock would have still had a good overall season without Alvaro, I don’t think they have the same type of success and I do not believe they go undefeated.”
Lopez has maintained an A average in the classroom. He will begin his senior year of high school this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually 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, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Medrano Lopez joins recent Gatorade Connecticut Boys Soccer Players of the Year Lucas Almeida (2022-23, Hall High School), Kelvin ‘KK’ Baffour (2021-22, Taft School), Scott Testori (2020-21, Daniel Hand High School) and Sammed Bawa (2019-20, Taft School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $4.9 million in grants to winners across more than 1,900 organizations.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.
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