Stuart Aeschliman, a student at West Salem High School, has been named the Gatorade USA Today boys soccer player of the year for Oregon.
Not often are juniors chosen as a Gatorade Player of the Year.
Stuart Aeschliman is not like a lot of soccer players.
The West Salem High School junior forward added to his long list of honors by being chosen the Gatorade Oregon Boys Soccer Player of the Year.
“It’s just even bigger of an honor, I guess, that they recognized me like that as a junior,” Aeschliman said. “Obviously, winning it at any age would be an honor. My teammates put me in the position I’m in to get this award. I have to give most, all of the credit to them. It’s just an honor.”
Aeshliman, who has a 3.22 GPA, scored 14 goals and had nine assists for West Salem (11-5-3) despite missing three games this season.
He missed the team’s first two games after having surgery to repair the thumb on his left hand then missed a game during the season with a hamstring injury.
“It sucks missing any games, just having to sit on the sideline and watch,” said Aeschliman, who has scored 44 goals and 20 assists in his career. “You can’t help. I think we did all right in those games, so it was okay just to watch my team play a little bit, kind of see it from a different point of view.”
When he was on the field, he was vital to the team’s success.
He was selected first-team all-Greater Valley Conference for the third time and was a first-team Class 6A all-state selection.
Though the individual honors have been good for Aeschliman, there is still something missing.
West Salem lost 2-0 to Lincoln in the 6A state championship game, and that drives him towards his senior year.
“All of them have been pretty cool, and I’m obviously honored to win them, and I guess this one is the biggest one,” he said. “So that’s kind of cool, I’ve kind of been building up to this.
“I guess we have more to do next year, in terms of not only me, but the team. We came so close this year to winning that championship. To cap it off like that would be awesome. I’m working my way up. That would be a personal honor and a team honor, and that would be cool.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler