Heritage’s Samantha Villaverde is the Broward Girls’ Soccer 4A-1A Player of the Year
On one of the most dominant state championship runs in recent memory by a South Florida girls’ soccer team, American Heritage had plenty of key contributors.
But few were as consistent over the past four seasons as Samantha Villaverde.
The Patriots’ senior forward and top scorer finished her career with 19 goals and seven assists and delivered some of her best strikes in the playoffs while helping Heritage win its third consecutive state title.
As such, Villaverde is the Miami Herald’s Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year for Classes 4A-1A in Broward County.
“It’s an incredibly happy and proud way for me to end my four years at Heritage,” Villaverde said. “I’m honored to have been a part of all of this and to be ranked No. 1 in the nation was another thing to be proud of, I’m just really happy and cherishing the memories.”
Villaverde helped Heritage put together a dominant playoff run during which it outscored its opponents 30-0 throughout the regional and state playoffs. In the team’s final three games, she scored six goals including one goal and one assist in Heritage’s state title game victory over Orlando Bishop Moore.
Villaverde led the Patriots in scoring each of the past three seasons, which all ended with state championships.
For her career, she played in 64 games and scored 64 goals.
Villaverde, who has signed with Wesleyan University, said she likely will play as either a striker or outside midfielder as she has on her club team. She plans to study biology and hopes to carry over plenty of the experiences she enjoyed as part of the Patriots’ soccer dynasty to the next level.
“This year really showed me what it’s like to be a family on the field and my movement off the ball improved and helped me become more successful,” Villaverde said. “I also had more of a leadership role and I’m very excited to start the next chapter.”
