Opal Curless, who has been a dynamic and high-scoring midfielder for four seasons at Mount Desert Island, is the only player from the state to be selected to play in the third annual girls high school All-American game in December in Raleigh, North Carolina.
She is one of 40 seniors chosen to participate in the game, which is held in conjunction with the NCAA Division I Women’s College Cup.
Curless and the other participants will attend the semifinal games on Dec. 4 as well as the national championship game on Dec. 6.
The girls high school All-American game, pitting the East against the West stars, will be played at 4 p.m. Dec. 5 at Cardinal Gibbons High School.
The Women’s College Cup will be held at Wakemed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, which is 12 miles from Raleigh.
Curless is one of eight New Englanders involved in the game.
The others are Massachusetts natives Brooke Heinsohn, Kerri Zerfoss, Ally Reynolds and Rachel Kingston, Connecticut’s Chantelle Swaby and Jenna Bike, and New Hampshire’s Sydney Brackett.
Curless and Brackett will both play in the fall at Syracuse University in New York.
Curless was recently chosen the Penobscot Valley Conference’s Class B Player of the Year after leading the Trojans to a 10-5 campaign.
Former Mount Desert Island coach Tom Savage, who coached Curless for three seasons, said she was the “most technically-skilled player” he had coached in his 12 years at MDI.
“She has great foot skills and a very powerful, accurate shot that she can hit with both feet,” said Savage.
“She plays soccer year-round, and you have to see a lot of scenarios to know what to do — to know how a play develops before it develops,” he added.
Curless started as a freshman, and Savage said she improved significantly every year. He also called her a very versatile player.
“She filled a lot of different roles. Sometimes I’d have her in a defensive role. She never complained,” he said.
Curless got stronger and faster every year, and her maturity helped her excel even though she was heavily marked all over the field, Savage said.
Hermon coach M.J. Ball said Curless is a “great kid who has skill, size and speed.
“And she tries to get all of her teammates involved,” he said. “She’s legit.”