Rolling Hills Estates' Engen Named Top Collegiate Female Soccer Player
Photo courtesy UNC
No, this isn't the Hermann Trophy (that will be awarded Jan. 8 in case you were wondering and Whitney Engen isn't one of the three finalists).
This is the Honda Sports Award in soccer. The awards are given annually to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 member schools.
The UNC defender beat out fellow Tar Heel Tobin Heath, UCLA's Lauren Cheney and Stanford striker Kelley O'Hara, all of whom are finalists for the Hermann.
Quotable:
"To end our season with a (national) championship and then win the Honda Sports Award is beyond my wildest dreams. I was really shocked when I heard the news, especially being up against my teammate Tobin whom I admire greatly, as well as the other phenomenal nominees."
Engen is a converted striker who UNC Coach Anson Dorrance now uses in his flat back three defensive scheme.
From the Honda press release:
She was named this year's NCAA Women's College Cup MVP on Defense after helping her team to its third national championship in the past four years. She was also named Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year on a team that allowed just 12 goals and had 19 shutouts.
Past award recipients include Kristine Lilly and Mia Hamm.
About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
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