Two South Bay players win WPS awards
Palos Verdes Estates' Christen Press (magicJack) was named Rookie of the Year, while Rolling Hills Estates' Whitney Engen (Western New York Flash) received the Defender of the Year honor in Women's Professional Soccer.
Engen, 24, led the regular season champions to a 13-2-2 record and missed just one game (while on national team duty) all season; Press, the reigning 2010 MAC Hermann trophy winner out of Stanford, scored eight goals for magicJack - almost one-third of the team's total - and just two behind former LA Sol striker Marta, who took the Golden Boot Award despite playing in just 14 games.
"It's a huge honor to be recognized amongst such phenomenal players," said Engen. "One of the main reasons I was even able to be nominated was because of the support and play of everyone around me."
The Flash, the regular season champion, will play the winner of Saturday's semifinal between the Philadelphia Independence and magicjack (live at 1 p.m. on Fox Sports Net) on Aug. 27 in Rochester (live at 1 p.m. on Fox Sports Net).
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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