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The 2026 Times Girls Soccer Player of the Year: Ottawa’s Georgia Kirkpatrick · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: The twenty twenty six Times Girls Soccer Player of the
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  Speaker 1: Year Ottawa's Georgia Kirkpatrick. Written by Brian Haxy, This article
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  Speaker 1: is being read by an automated voice brought to you
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  Speaker 1: by Everlett. Coming into the past season, the Ottawa girls
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  Speaker 1: soccer team had a lot of talented players coming back,
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  Speaker 1: but it also graduated skilled players in some key positions.
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  Speaker 1: Fortunately for the Pirates, one of those returning players was
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  Speaker 1: sophomore center midfielder Georgia Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick, while controlling the tempo
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  Speaker 1: in the middle of the pitch, also scored thirty two
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  Speaker 1: goals and recorded a team best twenty three assists. Her
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  Speaker 1: efforts helped Ottawa finish the season at seventeen to five,
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  Speaker 1: a program record for wins, and capture the Class one
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  Speaker 1: ah Oriyan Regional title, the program's first postseason championship. So
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  Speaker 1: with the combination of her talents, statistics and contribution to
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  Speaker 1: the team's success, Kirkpatrick has been voted the twenty twenty
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  Speaker 1: six Times Girls Soccer Player of the Year. I'm most
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  Speaker 1: proud of how I feel I adapted to my teammates
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  Speaker 1: over the season and take Chloe Carmona, who scored fifty
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  Speaker 1: three goals. For an example, She's moved without the ball
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  Speaker 1: so well, and when she has the ball in a
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  Speaker 1: scoring chance, more often than not, she's going to score.
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  Speaker 1: Kirkpatrick said, as the season went along, it was like
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  Speaker 1: I just knew if she was going to go left
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  Speaker 1: or right even before she made a move. There was
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  Speaker 1: a connection between us. We just clicked and I knew
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  Speaker 1: if I could put the ball in a space that
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  Speaker 1: only she could get to it, that it was probably
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  Speaker 1: going to end up a goal or at least a
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  Speaker 1: really good scoring chance. I feel like as a midfielder,
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  Speaker 1: it's my main job to be really good at transitioning
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  Speaker 1: from offense to defense and the other way around, but
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  Speaker 1: also understanding my teammates strengths and helping put them in
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  Speaker 1: the best spots to be successful. I feel like I
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  Speaker 1: did a pretty good job doing that. Patrick, who was
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  Speaker 1: named to the Interstate eight All Conference team, said she
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  Speaker 1: really can't remember not kicking a soccer ball around when
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  Speaker 1: I was little. My family lived in Atlanta, Georgia, and
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  Speaker 1: you could, for the most part, play all year round there.
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  Speaker 1: Kirkpatrick said, I started playing soccer in a recreation league
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  Speaker 1: not long after I started to walk like two or
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  Speaker 1: three years old. My older cousin is the coolest person ever,
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  Speaker 1: and she played soccer, so I wanted to play too.
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  Speaker 1: I think I realized I'm a very competitive person when
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  Speaker 1: we moved to Ottawa when I was in first grade
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  Speaker 1: and I started to play in the Rex Soccer League here,
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  Speaker 1: I just found that this is the sport that I
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  Speaker 1: was pretty good at, but also one that I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to keep working on getting really good at. Also a
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  Speaker 1: member of the Ottawa cross country and basketball teams, Kirkpatrick
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  Speaker 1: had four matches in which she scored three or more goals,
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  Speaker 1: and in seven matches she recorded at least a goal
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  Speaker 1: and an assist. Her freshman year, Georgia started as a defender,
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  Speaker 1: but we quickly saw with her skills that she'd not
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  Speaker 1: only excel in the midfield, but that it would also
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  Speaker 1: strengthen our team. Ottawa coach Kevin Olison said, it was
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  Speaker 1: just simple with her overall skills, we'd be underutilizing her
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  Speaker 1: talent having her play in the defensive third. Georgia is
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  Speaker 1: a player that is solid physically in every aspect of
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  Speaker 1: the game, but also understands the game so well. There
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  Speaker 1: have been so many times where she makes plays that
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  Speaker 1: not many other players can make. I sometimes have to
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  Speaker 1: ask my assistant coach or the girls on the bench
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  Speaker 1: something like, did she really just do that? Georgia is
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  Speaker 1: the type of player that has the ability to make
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  Speaker 1: things happen out of situations where it looks like nothing
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  Speaker 1: is there. She had a tremendous year this year for us,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm excited to see what she can do in
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  Speaker 1: the next two. Kirkpatrick said. While the wins, including the
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  Speaker 1: regional title, are great, memories, just being together as a
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  Speaker 1: team and working to be better players are something she
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  Speaker 1: thinks about. I'm not sure if I could be one
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  Speaker 1: favorite memory from the season because there were so many,
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  Speaker 1: Kirkpatrick said. We all just had such a great chemistry
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  Speaker 1: and just loved hanging out with each other. We just
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  Speaker 1: had fun. I guess for me, my favorite memories are
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  Speaker 1: just seeing the team get better with every practice and
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  Speaker 1: every match. I feel like everyone pushed each other to
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  Speaker 1: be better, but in a way that no one got
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  Speaker 1: upset or mad, but more excited to learn a skill
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  Speaker 1: or improve on it. This season, the team was truly
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  Speaker 1: a family. I also love to see a few of
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  Speaker 1: the girls on the team that this was their first season,
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  Speaker 1: just really start to understand the game, adjusting, finding their role,
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  Speaker 1: and then just gain confidence in their own abilities.