Dec. 17, 2001
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Santa Clara University junior midfielder Aly Wagner has been named the top woman collegiate athlete in women's soccer for the 2001-2002 collegiate year, according to the results of national balloting among NCAA-member schools.
As the Honda Award winner in her sport, Wagner, a San Jose native out of Presentation High School, was named the College Cup Offensive MVP after scoring the lone goal of the NCAA Championship game to lead SCU to its first national championship, topping defending champion and previously unbeaten North Carolina for the title. She added two assists in the semifinal. The first-team All-American finished the season with 54 points, including a nation-leading 20 assists. Additionally, she was named a finalist for the Hermann Trophy and Missouri Athletic Club Player of the Year award while also being named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year.
In addition to the honor of this selection, the Honda Awards Program will donate $5,000 to the women's athletic fund for Santa Clara University. The Honda Awards Program will donate $1,000 to the universities of the other three finalists: Florida's Abby Wambach, and Penn State's Christie Welsh and Joanna Lohman.
Wagner is now an automatic nominee for the Honda-Broderick Cup, which is awarded annually to the national's outstanding collegiate woman athlete of the year through all NCAA competition, as chosen by a panel of college athletic directors. She will be joined later this year by other winners in the sports of basketball, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball, plus previously-announced winners Tara Chaplin (cross country) of Arizona and Autum Welsh (field hockey) of Maryland.
That winner will be announced June 17, 2002, at the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year Banquet, which will be held in Dallas during the NACDA convention.
Wagner becomes the second Bronco to receive the Honda Award for soccer. Former Standout Brandi Chastain '91 won the award after the 1990 season. North Carolina's Mia Hamm and Notre Dame's Cindy Daws are the Honda Award winners for soccer who were also named the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.
The Honda Awards Program is in its 26th year and recognizes the top woman collegiate athlete in each of 12 sports. The trophy was established in 1977 by Thomas Broderick, founder and owner of a sports apparel company that bears his name. Honda took over sponsorship in 1987.