Ukiah's Taylor Bray named All-Empire Large School Girls Soccer Player of Year

For the past four years, any coach worth their salt who prepared to play the Ukiah High School girls soccer team would try to come up with a plan to stop Taylor Bray.

The Wildcats senior was not only the driving force behind Ukiah’s attack, she was also a vocal leader and workhorse who at times this season seemed to single-handedly take over games for her team.

Bray scored 26 of the Wildcats’ 74 goals on the season and handed out 15 assists. But beyond the numbers, Bray was the engine of the Ukiah team that finished third in the North Bay League and made it to the semifinal round of the North Coast Section tournament.

Bray, who plays primarily in the central midfield, orchestrated the Wildcats’ offense all season long. For this, Bray is our Large School All-Empire Player of the Year.

“She is the heart and soul of their team,” said Pat McDonald, coach of the Montgomery Vikings. “She went 100 percent all game long. She never slowed down. You always had to know where she was on the field.”

That was the common refrain among coaches - in order to get past Ukiah, teams had to shut down Bray. It didn’t work all that often. The Wildcats finished 19-5-2 overall and 8-4-2 in the NBL.

“She’s a stud,” one said.

“Of the biggest threat that we saw, in terms of individuals, it would be Taylor,” said another. “She was always a threat. She was always out there.”

A dominant physical player, Bray put away games for the Wildcats with her offensive prowess both early and late. Another coach put it this way: “She killed us.”

Bray said she’s had to work to make her game grow. As a younger player she relied on her athleticism, but in recent years she has buckled down to add to her arsenal of weapons and refine her ball skills.

“I used to be just running, running all the time. It’s less skill,” she said. “When I got older, it was harder. I knew I had to practice. I would go out and practice on my own to get better.”

Her maturation as a soccer player shows.

“I’m very impressed with her growth in the last two years,” Maria Carrillo coach Debra LaPrath said.

“Her ability to read the game - when the ball is coming to Taylor, she’s taking a look before the ball arrives, where she’s going next,” she said. “You see her looking around.

“The way she moves on and off the ball, the way she talks to her team. She just continues to talk to her team and doesn’t stop working until the final whistle blows.”

Named to the high school All-American girls fall team, Bray traveled to North Carolina in December to represent the west.

Next fall, she’ll suit up for the Bears of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

But representing Ukiah High for the past four years has been special, she said.

“It’s kind of an honor to represent your school and show what can come out of Ukiah,” she said.