HAMPDEN, Maine — Hampden Academy standout Tristan Gardner will conclude his high school soccer career competing with some of the top players in the nation.
The Broncos’ senior striker is among 42 elite boys players from fall-playing soccer states around the country who will take part in the fourth annual High School All-American Soccer Game scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The game will feature many of the nation’s top seniors and 25 players selected already have made their college choices, all headed to NCAA Division I programs.
Gardner is the first Maine player chosen in the brief history of the All-American contest. He is one of six New England players on this year’s 21-member East squad, along with three from Massachusetts and two from Connecticut.
Gardner, who was nominated to a watch list to be considered for the game a month ago, learned of his selection early this week. The teams were announced formally Friday morning.
“I was incredibly honored,” said Gardner after scoring four goals to lead Hampden to a 5-2 victory over Bangor on Tuesday evening. “That’s the best honor I’ve achieved in athletics and I’m just so humbled.
“I can’t describe it really because it still hasn’t sunken in yet.”
Gardner, who has not yet decided where he will attend college, has been a four-year varsity soccer player at Hampden, helping the Broncos to a 48-11-6 record through the end of the 2014 regular season.
Hampden reached the Eastern Maine Class A championship match in 2011 and the regional semifinals in 2012 before winning its first EM crown since 2004 last fall. Gardner scored three goals — including the game-winner on an overtime header — during a 3-2 victory over Lewiston in the regional championship game.
He earned All-New England honors from the Maine Soccer Coaches Association last fall, and has been named an Eastern A regional all-star and an Eastern Maine state team member for the last two seasons by the MSCA.
During the past three years he has totaled 67 goals for the Broncos, including seven during postseason play and 25 this fall.
“Tristan is one of the greatest players and students I have ever coached,” said Hampden boys soccer coach Josh Stevens. “His combination of elite soccer skill and the ability to make every player around him better is truly what sets him apart.”
Gardner also has starred in baseball, pitching for the Hampden entry in the 2012 Senior League World Series as well as for Hampden Academy.
A highest honor student who won the school’s Princeton Book Award as a junior, he is a member of National Honor Society, Key Club and the school’s leadership group and has been active in numerous regional and state speech competitions.
The son of Trip and Michelle Gardner of Hampden also has helped organize and participated in events to raise money for the homeless and other charitable causes.
He is active in music and is part of the bluegrass band Playing with Fire, which has participated in festivals around the state. He also plays music and sings at weddings, funerals, churches, nursing homes and fundraisers and performs the national anthem at events including the 2010 opening of the Maine Legislature, the Senior League World Series, and before several Maine high school athletic championship games.
“A leader of leaders is the way I have (and continue) to describe him when in conversations with fellow coaches and with potential collegiate coaches,” said Stevens. “That is to mean that he can reinforce his teammates when in the lead, rally his teammates when behind and console them when defeated.”
The High School All-American Soccer Game will be contested the same weekend as the men’s NCAA Division I College Cup, which is being held in nearby Cary, North Carolina. Participants will arrive in Raleigh on Dec. 11 and have the chance to attend the NCAA semifinals the next day before participating in the all-star game.
