Oxford Hills’ Cecelia Dieterich, second from right, celebrates her game-winning overtime goal with teammates Bella DeVivo, right, and Celia Melanson. Dieterich’s goal gave the Vikings a 4-3 win over Messalonskee at the Gouin Complex in Paris in 2019. Brewster Burns photo

For four productive years, Cecelia Dieterich kept up a a blistering pace that culminated in a GPA above a 4.0, found time to become valedictorian of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School’s Class of 2020 and earned an acceptance to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Her coaches have nothing but praise for the three-sport athlete, whose academic accolades also earned her recognition. Dieterich was recently named a United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-American.

“She is a hard-working kid,” Oxford Hills girls lacrosse coach Jaimee Smith said. “She leads by example. She joined us her sophomore year. She picked up the tactics, the skills part of the game being a natural athlete and was able to go from there.

“Yeah, she is a great all-around student. No matter what she does, she gives 110 percent. She doesn’t stop until she is happy with it.”

According to the United Soccer Coaches’ website: “To be nominated, players must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or better (on a 4.0 scale) through the first semester of their senior year, must have demonstrated recognized excellence in high school soccer and must have performed community service at the local, regional or national level.”

She had no problem meeting those requirements.

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“I knew when I started the nomination process, I knew she could be a shoe-in for it,” Oxford Hills girls’ soccer coach Lyndsay Fox said. “She was top of her class, she’s a stellar athlete and she is a stellar kid. I think it is amazing. It shows great strength in our community.” 

Dieterich was pleasantly surprised to earn the accolade.

“It was kind of unexpected just because it was so late, and it was for soccer,” Dieterich said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool. I think it’s cool because it’s this whole big thing from California and I am from Maine, you know.

“It is hard to be an athlete and be so dedicated to school. So I feel it nice to combine those two for such a big award. I feel like it is the best of both worlds.”

Her lifelong passion for learning and excelling in school never faltered.

“I think it is fun to be in the classroom sometimes,” she said. “I always like to push myself in everything.”

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Fox describes Dieterich as tenacious and a leader who does everything by example.

“She is willing to take charge when others may not,” Fox said. “She has no fear. She’s very coachable and she is not afraid to speak her mind and say, ‘This is what I think.’”

Dieterich is going to use her top-notch math skills to study civil and environmental engineering. 

“I like math and I like physics,” she said. “My family has always traveled a lot to national parks and I really like nature…that why I incorporated the environmentalist part into (my major).” 

Outside school, she continued her frenetic pace, playing soccer (her favorite), basketball and lacrosse, which she switched to after moving away from softball.

“I have always liked to be active,” Dieterich said. “I can’t imagine myself ever having an off-season because I always like to be on the go. I used to play softball in the spring. It just got kind of boring for me…so I decided to switch to lacrosse.”

“I feel each sport kind of teaches you a different thing, but they are all like similar, and a bunch of my friends played them also. I think it was good for me because I always liked to play a sport. I cannot imagine myself not being on a field or court at some point. I don’t like to sit around my house or anything.”

She will also be playing for the Carnegie Mellon women’s soccer team — a Division III school. Dieterich said the season was cancelled, but she will remain at Carnegie Mellon for the year and practice with the team.

“I wish her the best of luck. I know that no matter what she decides to do in college and beyond, she is going to do great things,” Fox said. 


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