This week's special edition of the Blue Federal Credit Union Athlete of the Week determined our top local high school girls athlete for the fall sports season.
Poudre School District field hockey's Lily Sidwell took top fall honors in the Fort Collins area with a standout season for a steadily improving program.
The senior was a Colorado 1st team all-state selection, leading PSD with 11 goals and 12 assists, team highs in both respects.
That included a goal and an assist to help account for both goals with six steals in the Stars' 2-1 playoff win, the program's first-ever postseason victory.
The team also set a program record for wins, going 7-9-2 with a 6-7-2 league record to finish 12th in the state.
This was Sidwell's first season with the program and was a massive difference maker.
She made 11 of her 16 shots on goal and was active on defense, tallying 88 steals, fourth on a deep PSD squad that has surged under head coach Kelly Samuel.
The Stars have won as many games the last two seasons (12) as they did in the team's first 10 years combined.
Sidwell is also a standout lacrosse player and could be a major contributor for the PSD girls lacrosse team this upcoming spring season.
Stars' field hockey fans delivered a major voting effort, pushing Sidwell atop a highly-competitive field with
Ultimately, that was enough to beat out these other fantastic fall sports nominees:
- Taylor Morgan, Wellington softball (runner-up at 26%)
- Jenna McGinnis, Windsor softball
- Emery Johnson, Fossil Ridge volleyball
- Izzy Schimmelpfennig, Timnath cross country
The Blue Federal Credit Union Athlete of the Week series features five nominees every Monday, with voting at Coloradoan.com until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday and the winner named later in the week.
View the final results:
Chris Abshire covers high school and community sports for the Coloradoan.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: PSD field hockey star named top Fort Collins-area fall girls athlete