CHICAGO — Zach Springer of Bozeman was named the Gatorade Montana boys soccer player of the year on Monday.
Springer, a 6-foot-1, 160-pound senior forward, recorded 18 goals and 16 assists last fall, helping the Hawks to a 14-1 record and the Class AA state championship game. Missoula Hellgate deated Bozeman 2-`1 in the final.
Springer was a three-time first-team all-state selection, the 2019 Eastern AA player of the year and the United Soccer Coaches’ state player of the year. He finished his high school soccer career with a Class AA-record 60 goals and 33 assists.
“Zach is a complete soccer player,” Bozeman coach Hunter Terry said in a media release. “Zach is an incredible dribbler with a tremendous repertoire of deceiving moves and great speed. I have never coached a player that is so consistently able to create and put themselves in dangerous attacking situations as Zach does.”
The Gatorade award "recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field," according to the release. In that regard, Springer has volunteered locally with the Salvation Army and as a youth soccer coach and has maintained a weighted 3.48 grade-point average.
Springer, who has signed a National Letter of Intent to play at Carroll College, is the fourth Gatorade Montana boys soccer player of the year from Bozeman. That list includes Ted Scott, who won last year's award, Ben Hietala, the 2014-15 winner, and Alec Marshall, the 2013-14 winner.
