BANGOR, Maine — Opal Curless of Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor and Abdi Shariff of Lewiston received the state’s top high school soccer honor Sunday during the 42nd Maine Soccer Coaches Association all-star banquet.
Curless, a senior midfielder, and Shariff, a senior forward, were named the state’s NSCAA All-Americans — an award bestowed annually on one boys player and one girls player statewide from an elite group of soccer standouts that already have been accorded All-New England status.
Curless, who has verbally committed to play on scholarship at Syracuse University beginning next fall, is a two-time All-New England choice who was among 40 players nationwide selected to play in the third annual girls’ high school All-American soccer game held Saturday at Cary, North Carolina.
Curless was named Penobscot Valley Conference Class B player of the year this fall after leading MDI to a 10-5 record, and she also was named to the league’s all-academic squad.
Curless scored 88 career goals for the Trojans, including 18 this year.
She is a four-year All-PVC honoree and has been selected by the MSCA to its Eastern/Northern Maine Class B all-star team and the Eastern/Northern Maine state all-star squad each of the last three years.
He was named Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A offensive player of the year this fall after leading the Blue Devils to an 18-0 record that included the final 14 victories of the team’s current 39-match regular-season winning streak.
Shariff is a two-time KVAC all-star and has been honored by the MSCA as both an Eastern/Northern state all-star and Eastern/Northern Maine Class A all-star each of the last two seasons.
Shariff was one of three Maine boys soccer players to earn All-New England status with Lewiston teammate Maslah Hassan and Simon Trcka of Thornton Academy in Saco.
Curless was joined as a girls All-New England choice from Maine by Windham’s Ciera Berthiaume.
Curless also was selected as Class B girls player of the year, and was recognized in that category along with Cady Houghton of Gorham (Class A), Becky Lopez-Anido of Orono (Class C) and Kelsea Anair of Richmond (Class D).
Shariff was named Class A boys player of the year, while also earning statewide POY recognition were Patrick Grant of Yarmouth (Class B), Milo Belleau of Portland’s Waynflete School (Class C) and Ryan Player of Fort Fairfield (Class D).
Two boys soccer coaches who guided their teams to state championships, Chris Gardner of Washington Academy in East Machias and Mike McGraw of Lewiston, were unanimously selected as NSCAA New England Region I coaches of the year in the small-school and large-school divisions respectively.
Gardner, whose Raiders capped off an 18-0 season with a 1-0 overtime win over Waynflete in the Class C state final, and McGraw now will compete for NSCAA national coach of the year honors in their divisions.
Brandon Salway of Waynflete also was nominated for New England Region I coach of the year in the boys private-school division, while girls soccer coaches Joe Johnson of Bangor (large schools), Cid Dyjak of Orono (small schools) and Todd Dominski of Waynflete (private schools) also were nominated for NSCAA regional honors.
Johnson and McGraw were named the state’s North region coaches of the year, while Jeanne Zarrilli of Gorham (girls) and Kyle Rines of Buckfield (boys) were selected as Maine’s South region coaches of the year.
