10 For 10

10 For 10: The top girls athletes

The last few weeks, I’ve taken a look at athletes in specific sports and picked the ones who stood out the most in my mind over the last decade of high school sports.

Joe Marchilena

— 4 min read
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10 For 10: The top girls athletes
Merrimack’s Emily Pollard received US All-American honors, making the New Hampshire girls lacrosse first team.

The last few weeks, I’ve taken a look at athletes in specific sports and picked the ones who stood out the most in my mind over the last decade of high school sports.

This week, it’s time to talk about the top athletes, the best all-around girls that I’ve had the opportunity to cover since starting this website 10 years ago. One criteria that I used for (most) of them was that they had to excel at more than just one sport. The definition of an athlete is someone who is proficient in sports, so I had to go with ones who played multiple sports.

The following are nine stellar multi-sport athletes and one who starred in one sport to the point that inclusion was necessary. They are the top female athletes that I’ve covered for this website over the last 10 years, with players listed in alphabetical order.

Top Athletes

  • Morgan Andrews, Milford (2009-13): Andrews was the face of girls soccer in the Granite State, as she was the first female athlete to win the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year award three times. She was also the Gatorade’s National Girls Soccer Player of the Year twice and the Female Athlete of the Year as a senior. That year, Andrews also helped lead the Spartans to their first girls soccer title in 24 years, and she was also a member of the Milford track team.
  • Kelsey Berry, Hollis Brookline (2008-12): Berry was a standout in two sports for the Cavaliers as a member of the girls volleyball and basketball teams. As a senior, she helped lead the volleyball team to the Division I title in its first season playing up and was named the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year. In basketball, she was a member of the Division II all-state first-team and helped the Cavs to the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
  • Taylor Choate, Nashua North (2011-15): Probably best known for her basketball accomplishments, Choate was also a key player for the Titans girls volleyball team and for North’s outdoor track team. Choate was a three-time Division I first-team selection in basketball, earning D1 Player of the Year honors as a senior, and she helped North to its only final four appearance in 2014. As a senior, Choate helped the girls volleyball team get to the final four, and was second-team all-state, while she also placed in four events for North in the Division I outdoor championship.
  • Shannon Gifford, Goffstown (2016-20): Gifford has been a varsity starter in three different sports at Goffstown for at least the last two years, and has earned first-team honors in two of them for that long. In her junior and senior year, Gifford was named to the Division II first-team in field hockey, while as a sophomore, she was D2 first-team in softball. The Grizzlies moved up to D1 last year and Gifford again received first-team honors as a junior.
  • Lindsay Hult, Bishop Guertin (2017-21): Despite having yet to complete her junior, Hult has turned in an impressive resume in three sports for the Cardinals. Already a two-time All-American in lacrosse, with two Division I championships on top of that, Hult earned first-team honors in girls ice hockey this winter. Hult is also a member of the Cardinals’ field hockey team and helped them reach the semifinals last fall.
  • Mickenzie Larivee, Souhegan (2010-14): Larivee was a three-sport athlete for the Sabers and played in five championship games across those sports. In lacrosse, she helped lead Souhegan to three Division I title games in a row, was a two-time All-American and received all-state honors all four years. Larivee also was a key member of back-to-back girls basketball championship teams as a freshman and sophomore, and also helped the Souhegan field hockey team to the quarterfinals as a senior.
  • Maddie McCorkle, Hanover (2016-20): McCorkle has been a force in lacrosse and basketball for the Marauders for the last three-plus years, as she was a key player on Hanover’s Division II girls basketball championship team a year ago and was named first-team all-state as a senior. In lacrosse, she’s been an all-state selection all three years and ranks third in career goals and second in points in program history.
  • Dina Pitsas, Milford (2009-13): A teammate of Andrews’ on the Spartans’ championship soccer team, Pitsas twice earned all-state honors in soccer, while being named Division II all-state three times for basketball. As a senior, Pitsas led Milford to its best season in basketball in 30 years, as the Spartans made the first of three-straight final four appearances. She was also a member of the outdoor track team for four years, and helped Milford finish as the runner-up in D2 as a senior.
  • Emily Pollard, Merrimack (2008-12): Pollard was a star for the Tomahawks in three sports, most notably helping the girls lacrosse team win the program’s only championship in 2012. She was also an All-American in lacrosse that year while helping the Merrimack field hockey team reach the semifinals for the first time in program history. Pollard was named Division I first-team twice in field hockey. She also scored points for Merrimack in the Class L/D1 indoor track championship all four years of high school in three different events.
  • Olivia Rougeau, Milford (2012-16): Rougeau finished her high school career at Milford with several accolades in girls volleyball and indoor and outdoor track. She finished with five high jump titles – three outdoor and two indoor – and won the long jump both seasons as a senior, while also winning both events at the Meet of Champions as a senior. Rougeau was a member of Milford’s 4×100-meter relay team, which set the state record in 2016, also at MOCs. In volleyball, she was the Division II Player of the Year as a junior and helped lead the Spartans to the final, and was also a first-team selection as a senior.

Did any of these players or teams make your list as well? Comment on here, or on Facebook or Twitter, to share your top athletes from the last decade. Next week, I’ll have a list of the top boys athletes.

Did you miss any of our previous lists? Check them out below.

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