HELENA -- Shodair Children's Hospital announced Wednesday it has canceled this year’s Shodair Soccer Classic over COVID-19 concerns.
For two decades the annual event has featured the top graduating student-athletes from high schools across the state in all-star soccer games. Each year, the top male and female athletes in the state compete in an East-versus-West contest at Nelson Stadium on the campus of Carroll College.
The student-athletes would also spend time giving back by assisting in the Shodair Soccer Classic Kids Clinic and raising awareness for Shodair Children’s Hospital.
Keith Meyer, Foundation Director at Shodair, said it was a hard decision for the organization to make.
“For the safety of our athletes, coaches, referees, parents and spectators, we felt like now was the time to make the decision to cancel the event for this summer, so that plans weren’t being made and then had to be canceled at the last minute,” said Meyer.
Meyer added they also didn’t want people to stress about travel plans they may need to cancel.
“We didn’t want to put the athletes and their families in a position where they had to make a choice,” said Meyer. “As we’re seeing other statewide events being canceled, we just felt we needed to do what (Governor Steve Bullock) is asking us and the people of Montana to do.”
The players for the Shodair Soccer Classic are invited to play due to their all-state and all-conference nominations, academic achievement, leadership and citizenship in their communities.
Shodair still wanted to congratulate every player that was selected this year and apologized for this being another part of their senior years taken away due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We want them to know that we know they’ll do well in the future. We congratulate them and I’m sure we’ll read about them in the future, either through their college career or other accomplishments,” added Meyer.
The 2020 Shodair Soccer Classic rosters can be found below.
Girls roster
Crisha Polk - Great Falls High School
Jillian Hust - Billings West High School
Arden Moore - Park High School
Halle Labert - Skyview High School
Riley Asbell - Bozeman High School
Hailee Gertsch - Skyview High School
Catharine Frederick - Hamilton High School
Lily Rust - CM Russell High School
Hayley Cochran - CM Russell High School
Makena Morris - Belgrade High School
Sarah Marshall - Belgrade High School
Jordan Roe - Skyview High School
Laura Zimmer - Billings Senior High School
Emily Funseth - CM Russell High School
Jorgie Hawthorne - Great Falls High School
Maddie Teagle - Frenchtown High School
Cameron Leo - Billings Senior High School
Carly DeBar - Billings Senior High School
Josie Windauer - Columbia Falls High School
Elaina Pierce - Hellgate High School
Aisley Allen - Sentinel High School
Reese Meyer - Sentinel High School
Gianna Migliaccio - Big Sky High School
Chloe Nadeau - Flathead High School
Micah Hickenthier - Glacier High School
Regan Maronick - Helena High School
Ellie Stiffler - Capital High School
Whitney Morrison - Big Sky High School
Maeve Monahan - Sentinel High School
Tristin Soule - Capital High School
Boys roster
Ethan Meccage - Laurel High School
Richard "Ricky" Temporal - Laurel High School
Caleb Warnken - Corvallis High School
Chance Lester - Stevensville High School
Zachary - Stoddart - Bozeman High School
Nathan Haycock - Belgrade High School
Kellen Borggard - C.M. Russell High School
Matthew Mosby - Laurel High School
Dawson Leishman - Frenchtown High School
Nicolas Andrew - Bozeman High School
Jeffrey Jacobs - Frenchtown High School
Benjamin -Bruner - Great Falls High School
Ryan Loper - Skyview High School
Nathan Andrew - Heritage Christian School
Clay Kellar - Hamilton High School
Riley Krueger-Harding - Billings West High School
Danny Kaleva - Loyola Sacred Heart High School
Ryann Quinn - Capital High School
Caleb Hoxie - Capital High School
Aidan Adamek - Capital High School
Caven Wade - Helena High School
Sam Menicke - Whitefish High School
Luke Schmitz - Helena High School
Colton Johnson - Stillwater Christian School
