Nichols School varsity girls soccer senior Mirann Gacioch ’22 is one of 43 student-athletes selected to participate in the 2021 High School All-American Game. This national competition takes place December 11 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

 

Gacioch is a four-year member of the Nichols varsity girls soccer team, helping the Vikings advance to the Monsignor Martin High School Athletic Association (MMHSAA) championship game each year from 2018 to 2021. Nichols won the 2018 championship game and finished as Catholic State finalists that year.

 

As a ninth grader in 2018, Gacioch was named Second Team All-Catholic. She earned First Team All-Catholic and All-State Class B Sixth Team honors in 2019. After her junior season in 2020, Gacioch was named to the Division A All-Catholic Team, the Section VI All-WNY First Team, and the Class B All-State First Team. As a senior this fall, she crossed the 100-point milestone while guiding the Vikings through a 15-game winning streak, which was snapped on November 3 as St. Mary’s of Lancaster defeated Nichols 4-2 in this year’s MMHSAA championship game.

 

Varsity girls soccer head coach Larry Desautels commended Gacioch not just for her success on the field, but for her desire to grow as an athlete and elevate her teammates.

 

“At every opportunity, when a group of hard-working athletes needs to lighten up, to turn labor into laughs, Mirann steps forward,” Desautels said. “But laughter isn’t her specialty—making those around her all part of a very special effort is.

 

“Mirann already knows that athletic greatness is not the child of impulse, or an act or a pose; it’s a habit.  She is always playing, always tuning her game. She practices harder than everyone, never wasting an opportunity to perform some skill faster or better. Any group of players who knocks a ball around with Mirann has to try to keep up with her; she doesn’t slow down to allow her teammates an easy time of it.  They get better as a result. She lives by the law of commitment—you’re either in or out, and she’s always in. And her team follows her in!”

 

Congratulations Mirann on this outstanding honor!