Striker Georgie Stephenson, who scored the game-winning goals for Bangor High School in both State Class A championship soccer games the last two seasons and earned All-American honors last fall, has verbally committed to play for the University of Connecticut beginning in the fall of 2028.
She will be a scholarship athlete.
Stephenson has transferred to Miss Porter’s School, a girls prep school in Farmington, Connecticut, where she is a junior.
She is just four miles from Avon Old Farms School, where her older brother Teddy is a baseball player. Teddy Stephenson, who will graduate this coming spring, has verbally committed to play baseball at Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.
Stephenson scored 36 goals last season including the only goal in the 1-0 victory over Scarborough in the state championship game. She also had a goal and an assist in the 4-1 Class A North title game win over Camden Hills of Rockport.
Her goal against Camden Hills made it 3-1 and was a beauty as she tracked down a loose ball in the penalty area, wheeled around and lofted a perfectly-placed left-footed shot over the goalkeeper’s head and into the far corner.
Her assist came on the fourth goal and resulted from her nifty pass to send Gabby Gordon in alone down the right side and Gordon converted it.
Stephenson had seven assists to go with her 36 goals and was chosen a United Soccer Coaches All-American and an All-New England selection to go along with her All-Northern Maine State Team and All-Northern Maine Class A Regional All-State Team recognition.
Her freshman season, she notched 15 goals and 7 assists with her 14th and 15th goals breaking a 1-1 tie in the final 10 minutes of the 3-1 state title game triumph over Scarborough.
Stephenson said in a text message that she chose UConn because “I really love the coaching staff and the culture. UConn also offers an incredible experience for student-athletes from the facilities and the resources to the support and atmosphere around athletics.
“It just felt like the right fit for me,” said Stephenson, who received interest from several other Division I schools.
“I’m very grateful for all of the (other) opportunities but once UConn became an option, I knew it was where I wanted to be,” wrote Stephenson.
She knows there will be a big jump from prep school to a Big East school and she said she wants to use the next two years to “push myself and become as complete a player as I can be.”
She also pointed out that her two years at Bangor High School were valuable in her development.
“I grew a lot as a player, but I also got to play with some of my best friends and represent my hometown, which meant a lot. I’m really grateful to my teammates, my coaches and everyone who supported me.
“Those are memories I will always have.”
Jay Kemble, who coached Stephenson during her two seasons at Bangor High, called her an “elite athlete.”
He noted that to be able to compete at the Division I level, not only do players have to be “athletic, quick and powerful, they also have to have a mentality to go above and beyond in order to compete and have success at that level. She carries that trait much like Teagan (Atherley) at Maine. She has that mentality that ‘I’m going to beat you.”
Kemble pointed out that Stephenson always thrived in big-pressure games.
“She was always around the ball, making plays. She not only was looking to score, she was also looking to set up her teammates. That’s why we put her up front.
“She had that tenacity about her. She wanted to finish, she wanted to score. And she did.”
Kemble said she had “soft feet” and both feet were powerful “so you had to be careful how you defended her because if you leaned to one side, she’d get you on the other side.
“She had great instincts and great field vision. She sees everything. She was always playing a pass or two ahead,” he said.
She played basketball her freshman year at Bangor High and earned a varsity letter while playing for Kemble. She then decided to stick with soccer and didn’t play basketball her sophomore year.
“She would have been a really good point guard. She was quick and she started to get that scoring touch. And she was a competitor,” said Kemble, who stepped down as the girls soccer coach after last season and is now just the Bangor High School boys basketball coach.
She plays club soccer for the FC Stars in Lancaster, Mass. She formerly played for the Bangor Soccer Club and River Cityi Maine.
Kemble expects her to make an impact at UConn.
“It’s going to be another learning curve for her but she has that mentality to want to continue to push and become better and to be a quality teammate and a contributor at that level,” said Kemble.
She is the daughter of Andy and Susan Stephenson and the granddaughter of Maine Sports Hall of Famer and Husson University Hall of Fame coach Gabby Price and wife Mary as well as the late Wayne Stephenson and wife Nedina.
Wayne Stephenson was a goaltender in the National Hockey League for 10 years and shared the goaltending duties in the 1968 Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France for the bronze medal-winning Canadian team.
He was the backup goalie behind Hall of Famer Bernie Parent for the 1975 Stanley Cup-winning Philadelphia Flyers.