2 Strongsville Soccer Players Named All-Americans

STRONGSVILLE, OH — Two Strongsville High School seniors have been named 2017 High School All-Americans: Vanessa DiNardo and Lauren Rakytiak. Both girls are forwards on the Lady Mustangs Soccer Team.

The All-America team is put together by the United Soccer Coaches Association. Only 60 girls nationwide made the team. For Strongsville, DiNardo and Rakytiak are the 13th and 14th All-Americans in Lady Mustangs history. It is also the first time the school has had two All-Americans in the same year. Both DiNardo and Rakytiak came through the Strongsville Soccer Organization youth program.

DiNardo has racked up an impressive collection of accolades during her Strongsville High career. She is a four-year letter winner and has scored 65 career coals. She was also named Ohio's Division I Girls Soccer Player of the Year, the 2017 Greater Cleveland Girls Soccer Player of the Year and the 2017 Greater Cleveland Conference Girls Soccer Player of the Year.

On top of all that, she was named to the 2017 All-Ohio First Team. She will keep her soccer career going as a Bearcat at the University of Cincinnati.

Fellow All-American, Rakytiak, is also a four-year letter winner and has scored 32 goals in just the last two seasons. This is the second year in a row that has been named an All-American. She's only the second student-athlete in program history to earn All-American status twice, the other being Ashley Meier in 2010 and 2011.

Rakytiak is also a back-to-back member of the All-Ohio First Team, a member of the 2017 Greater Cleveland First Team and was named 2016 Greater Cleveland Girls Soccer Player of the Year. She'll be a Golden Flash next year, continuing her soccer career at Kent State.

Both girls will be honored Jan. 20 at the 2018 United Soccer Coaches Convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Ohio has a particularly impressive roster of All-American soccer players this year. Fourteen of girls on the 60 person All-American roster come from the Buckeye State. To see the full list of 2017 High School All-Americans, click here.

Photos from Strongsville Schools