University of North Carolina Athletics
Averbuch, O'Reilly Named Soccer Buzz National Player Of The Year Finalists
November 14, 2006 | Women's Soccer
Nov. 14, 2006
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Soccer Buzz Magazine has announced the list of finalists for the two top player awards in women's collegiate soccer for 2006. Among the finalists for the two major awards are North Carolina players Yael Averbuch, Heather O'Reilly, Tobin Heath and Nikki Washington. Averbuch and O'Reilly are Player of the Year finalists while Heath and Washington are Freshman of the Year Finalists.
Fourteen players have been selected as finalists for 2006 National Player of the Year and another fourteen have been named finalists for the 2006 National Freshman of the Year. This will mark the 11th such honorees since Soccer Buzz first presented the awards in 1996 as this year's winners will be announced in early December.
Sixteen different schools are represented among the total of 28 finalists for 2006. Nebraska's Brittany Timko and North Carolina's Heather O'Reilly are national finalists for the third time in their careers. Three other players made the list for their second time. Six nominees were previously Freshman of the Year finalists during their rookie collegiate seasons including past winners of that award, O'Reilly and Kerri Hanks of Notre Dame. Continuing a recent trend, four of the 14 finalists for Player of the Year are international players hailing from Australia, Canada, France, and Germany. A foreigner failed to make the list for Freshman finalists for only the second time in seven years.
North Carolina and Notre Dame led all schools with four total finalists as seven schools had at least one player nominated for both awards. With five selections, the ACC was tops among all leagues for Player of the Year finalists and first in both categories with eight total selections. The Big East and Pac-10 also had three finalists for Freshman of the Year and followed the ACC with five players on the list for at least one of the two honors.
Penn State and North Carolina are the only programs to have a player among the finalists list for the eight years Soccer Buzz has announced finalists. UNC leads all schools with 25 all-time selections (total for both awards) followed by Notre Dame with sixteen and Portland with fifteen. Three teams established program firsts with their nominations: Georgia and Villanova had a finalist named for the first time in any category and Boston College had a Player of the Year finalist for the first time.
Christine Sinclair of Portland earned her second National Player of the Year honor in 2005 and Notre Dame's Kerri Hanks was named National Freshman of the Year last season.
