DeMarco named state’s top soccer player

When it came to accolades and awards, earning the Class AAA state soccer player of the year honors was the natural and final progression for Bishop England soccer standout Isabella DeMarco.
 
After all, the four-year varsity member was named to Spring Valley High School’s Viking Cup all-tournament team. The early-season tourney showcases the top players and teams in the Palmetto State.
 
After that, DeMarco was named all-region, all-state and earned a spot on the South Carolina squad for the Clash of the Carolinas, an all-star game that features the top seniors from the Palmetto State vs. their counterparts from North Carolina.
 
Finally, DeMarco was named the Class AAA player of the year by the South Carolina Soccer Coaches Association after leading the Bishops to the Lower State championship game.
 
“I’m very shocked,” said DeMarco, who will matriculate to Western Carolina University, where she will be reunited with her sister Alexis on the Catamount soccer pitch. 
 
“It’s pretty big to win this honor,” DeMarco said. “I know I helped the team make an impact in the region, and it’s cool to know I helped my team at the state level.”
 
DeMarco led the Bishops, who finished with a 12-6 record, with 16 goals while finishing second in assists with five to account for 37 points.
 
DeMarco’s career at BE began with a bang in 2019 when she was on the BE team with her sister Alexis. The team went 24-3-1 that year to win the Bishops’ most recent state championship and the 12th overall in the program’s storied history. DeMarco was a force as a freshman with 18 goals and 13 assists to tally 49 points.
 
It turned out to be DeMarco’s only state title in soccer as COVID-19 put a wrench in the 2020 season and part of the 2021 season. This year, the Bishops fell to Oceanside Collegiate Academy, 2-0, with a berth to the state championship on the line. The Bishops beat OCA
two out of three encounters before the fourth showdown.
 
“We definitely probably could have won that game,” DeMarco said. “But things didn’t go our way. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”
 
DeMarco’s soccer career commenced 11 years ago when she was 7. She also played tennis for the Battling Bishops, helping them win the 2021 state title last fall.
 
“I love tennis,” DeMarco said. “But I’m better at soccer. That’s for sure.”
 
DeMarco joins a Western Carolina team that went 11-8-1 in the fall of 2021. Her sister Alexis played in 19 matches her sophomore season and started seven. Alexis was a 2020 all academic All-Conference selection.
 
“It’s pretty awesome,” DeMarco said of playing with her sister at Western Carolina. “We will be reunited.” 
 
But first, DeMarco has some unfinished high school soccer business to attend to. She will play in the Clash of the Carolinas, which will be contested the weekend of June 24-25 at WakeMed Park’s Koka Booth Stadium in Cary, North Carolina. The Clash of the Carolinas is the nation’s only interstate all-star event.
 

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