Kailey Blain broke new ground for Merrimack High School on Thursday.

The 5-foot, 6-inch junior forward was named the 2008-09 Gatorade New Hampshire Girls Soccer Player of the Year. It’s the first time a girls soccer player from Merrimack High School received the award, which recognizes outstanding athletic excellence, as well as high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character both on and off the field.

Blain, The Telegraph’s Player of the Year, recorded 21 goals and 11 assists on the season, while maintaining a 3.94 GPA in the classroom. The two-time All-America selection and member of the U.S. Youth Soccer Region I Olympic Developement Program has recorded 53 goals and 28 assists through three years of varsity soccer.

“Kailey Blain is skillful, strong, fast and big,” said Matt Sprague, the Director of Coaching for the Seacoast United Soccer Club, in a press release. “She is the best player in the state. On a state level, she becomes an attacking presence. On a national level, she’s more of a central defender. She’s able to distribute the ball well and takes the ball well out of the air.”

Off the field, Blain volunteers by assisting Alzheimer’s patients on behalf of the local Day Away Program, and has also donated time to help the emergency crews of the Public Service of New Hampshire utility company.

Blain - who joins recent Granite State winners Kristy Zurmuhlen (2007-08, Fall Mountain), Lindsey Miller (2006-07, Bishop Guertin) and Brianna Gray (2005-06, St. Thomas) - is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year award, which won’t be announced until May.

Tags: Gatorade Player of the Year, Kailey Blain, Merrimack High School