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Dec. 12, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – University of Virginia men’s soccer player Alecko Eskandarian (Montvale, N.J./Bergen Catholic) and women’s soccer player Santa Clara’s Aly Wagner have been named the winners of the 2002 Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy, presented to the top male and female players in NCAA Division I soccer. Eskandarian and Wagner were selected as the winners by a vote of current National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) members at the NCAA Division I level.

This year’s honorees, Eskandarian and Wagner, have the distinction of being the first pair of players to receive the newly unified award. This summer’s announcement of the unification of the M.A.C. Award and the Hermann Trophy completed the merging of NCAA Division I soccer’s top honors. In 1999, the M.A.C. and the NSCAA came together to create a single award recognizing the top Division I player.

“It is a great honor to receive this award,” said Eskandarian. “I want to share this award with all of my teammates because they were all a big part of what I was able to do and accomplish this year. It is just an honor for me to receive an award like this because there has been so many great players honored with awards such as this before me. It is amazing to be a part of a select group like that. I am going to do my best to carry on the tradition they have all set before me. It was a great year for me, I had a lot of fun playing with all of my teammates, and this award goes out to each one of them for all of the hard work we put in and for all of the bounding we did off the field.”

Eskandarian edged Indiana’s Pat Noonan by four points to win the men’s award. Noonan was also runner-up for the M.A.C award in 2001. Finishing third in the men’s balloting was Diego Walsh of SMU and fourth was Mike Tranchilla of Creighton. Eskandarian was also named to the 2002 NSCAA/adidas Men’s Division I All-America First Team.

With his selection as the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy winner, Eskandarian became Virginia’s fifth individual men’s soccer player to be named in conjunction with either the M.A.C. Player of the Year award or to win the Hermann Trophy. His selection also marks the tenth occasion where a UVa men’s soccer player has been selected for either award. Prior to Eskandarian’s selection this year, Virginia had four individual players named the M.A.C. Player of the on five different occasions: John Harkes in 1987, Tony Meola in 1989, Claudio Reyna in 1992 and 1993, and Mike Fisher in 1996. UVa also had three players win the Hermann Trophy on four different occasions: Tony Meola in 1989, Claudio Reyna in 1993, and Mike Fisher in 1995 and 1996. Here is a look at all the awards:

VIRGINIA'S M.A.C. HERMANN TROPHY SELECTIONSYear		Player2002		Alecko Eskandarian
VIRGINIA'S MISSOURI ATHLETIC CLUB PLAYER OF THE YEAR SELECTIONSYear		Player1987		John Harkes1989		Tony Meola1992 		Claudio Reyna1993		Claudio Reyna1996		Mike Fisher
VIRGINIA'S HERMANN TROPHY SELECTIONSYear		Player1989		Tony Meola1993		Claudio Reyna1995		Mike Fisher1996		Mike Fisher

Eskandarian has played three seasons as a forward at Virginia for men’s soccer head coach George Gelnovatch and has establishing himself as one of the finest soccer players to ever play for the Cavaliers. He has etched his name into numerous statistical categories in the tradition-rich program at Virginia. Eskandarian has started 56 of the 60 games he appeared in and has recorded 4,565 minutes of playing time at UVa. For his career, he has recorded 113 points, scored 50 goals (including 15 game-winners) and dished out 13 assists (including four game-winners). He also took 272 shots in his three seasons of play.

In 2002, Eskandarian set a new Virginia school-record for the most goals scored in a single season at Virginia with 25. He also finished tied for second all-time at UVa with 54 single-season points and finished tied for sixth with six single-season game-winning goals in 2002. Eskandarian’s 113 career points ranks sixth all-time at Virginia, while his 50 career goals is fourth all-time at UVa and his 15 career game-winning goals is the third most in a career ever for a Cavalier. His 272 career shots taken is also the third highest total in Virginia school history.

Eskandarian has recorded numerous honors and awards in his three years as a Cavalier. In 2002 (as a junior), he was named a 2002 NSCAA/adidas NCAA Division I First Team All-American and was selected as the 2002 ACC Player of the Year. He was selected as a member of the 2002 All-ACC First Team and to the 2002 ACC All-Tournament Team. Eskandarian was also named to the 2002 NSCAA/adidas All-South Atlantic Region First Team. He was chosen the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2002 Virginia Soccer Classic and was named to both the 2002 Virginia Soccer Classic All-Tournament Team and to the 2002 Maryland/FILA Classic All-Tournament Team. Eskandarian was named the 2002 Virginia State Player of the Year and to the 2002 Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) First Team and was also named the ACC Player of the Week on three occasions.

As a sophomore (2001), Eskandarian was named to the 2001 All-ACC First Team and was selected as a 2001 NSCAA/adidas Second Team All-American. He was also named to the 2001 NSCAA/adidas All-South Atlantic Region First Team, selected Second Team All-State by the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) and named to both the 2001 Virginia Soccer Classic All-Tournament Team and to the 2001 Maryland/Fila Classic All-Tournament team.

As a freshman (2000), Eskandarian was named the 2000 ACC Rookie of the Year and a 2000 First Team All-ACC selection. He was also selected as the 2000 Freshman of the Year and was a 2000 Third Team All-America selection by Soccer America. Eskandarian was named to the 2000 NSCAA/adidas First Team All-South Atlantic Region squad, selected as the 2000 Player of the Year in the state of Virginia and was a 2000 First Team All-State selection by the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID). He was also named to both the 2000 Virginia Soccer Classic All-Tournament team and to the 2000 Maryland/Fila Invitational All-Tournament team.

Eskandarian has helped guide Virginia to a record of 49-15-2 (.758) from 2000-2002, including an ACC record of 14-4-0 (.778) in conference play. In 2001, he helped UVa become the first school in ACC history to win all of its conference games by shutout after going a perfect 6-0-0 in ACC play. Eskandarian also guided Virginia to the three consecutive ACC Tournament Championship and to three consecutive trips to the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship (including a trip to the NCAA Quarterfinals in 2000) in each of the last three years.

Here is a statistical look at Eskandarian for his career at Virginia:

Year	GP/GS	Min	Sh	G	A	GWG/GWA	Pts2000	24/22	1,858	102	16	6	4/3		382001	16/14	1,321	69	9	3	5/0		212002	20/20	1,386	101	25	4	6/1		54Totals	60/56	4,565	272	50	13	15/4		113

All-Time Hermann Trophy Award Winners

MEN Year: Player, College1967: Dov Markus, Long Island University1968: Manuel Hernandez, San Jose State1969: Al Trost, Saint Louis University1970: Al Trost, Saint Louis University1971: Mike Seerey, Saint Louis University1972: Mike Seerey, Saint Louis University1973: Dan Counce, Saint Louis University1974: Farrukh Quraishi, Oneonta State University1975: Steve Ralbovsky, Brown University1976: Glenn Myernick, Hartwick College1977: Billy Gazonas, Hartwick College1978: Angelo DiBernardo, Indiana University1979: Jim Stamatis, Penn State University1980: Joe Morrone, Jr., University of Connecticut1981: Armando Betancourt, Indiana University1982: Joe Ulrich, Duke University1983: Mike Jeffries, Duke University1984: Amr Aly, Columbia University1985: Tom Kain, Duke University1986: John Kerr, Duke University1987: Bruce Murray, Clemson University1988: Ken Snow, Indiana University1989: Tony Meola, University of Virginia1990: Ken Snow, Indiana University1991: Alexi Lalas, Rutgers University1992: Brad Friedel, UCLA1993: Claudio Reyna, University of Virginia1994: Brian Maisonneuve, Indiana University1995: Mike Fisher, University of Virginia1996: Mike Fisher, University of Virginia1997: Johnny Torres, Creighton University1998: Wojtek Krakowiak, Clemson University1999: Ali Curtis, Duke University2000: Chris Gbandi, University of Connecticut2001: Luchi Gonzalez, Southern Methodist University
WOMEN Year: Player, College1988: Michelle Akers, University of Central Florida1989: Shannon Higgins, University of North Carolina1990: April Kater, University of Massachusetts1991: Kristine Lilly, University of North Carolina1992: Mia Hamm, University of North Carolina1993: Mia Hamm, University of North Carolina1994: Tisha Venturini, University of North Carolina1995: Shannon MacMillan, Portland University1996: Cindy Daws, University of Notre Dame1997: Cindy Parlow, University of North Carolina1998: Cindy Parlow, University of North Carolina1999: Mandy Clemens, Santa Clara University2000: Anne Makinen, University of Notre Dame2001: Christie Welsh, Penn State University

All-Time Missouri Athletic Club Award Winners

MEN Year: Player, College1986: John Kerr, Jr., Duke University1987: John Harkes, University of Virginia1988: Ken Snow, Indiana University1989: Tony Meola, University of Virginia1990: Ken Snow, Indiana University1991: Alexi Lalas, Rutgers University1992: Claudio Reyna, University of Virginia1993: Claudio Reyna, University of Virginia1994: Todd Yeagley, Indiana University1995: Matt McKeon, Saint Louis University1996: Mike Fisher, University of Virginia1997: Johnny Torres, Creighton University1998: Jay Heaps, Duke University1999: Sasha Victorine, UCLA2000: Ali Curtis, Duke University2001: Luchi Gonzalez, Southern Methodist University
WOMEN Year: Player, College1991: Kristine Lilly, University of North Carolina1992: Mia Hamm, University of North Carolina1993: Mia Hamm, University of North Carolina1994: Tisha Venturini, University of North Carolina1995: Shannon MacMillan, University of Portland1996: Cindy Daws, University of Notre Dame1997: Cindy Parlow, University of North Carolina1998: Cindy Parlow, University of North Carolina1999: Mandy Clemens, Santa Clara University2000: Anne Makinen, University of Notre Dame2001: Christie Welsh, Penn State University
All-Time NSCAA Division I Players of the Year(Note: The M.A.C. and NSCAA merged their awards in 1999.)
MEN Year: Player, College1996: Mike Fisher, University of Virginia1997: Daniel Hernandez, Southern Methodist University1998: Dema Kovalenko, Indiana University

WOMEN Year: Player, College 1996: Jennifer Renola, University of Notre Dame1997: Sarah Whalen, University of Connecticut1998: Danielle Fotopoulos, University of Florida

— UVa —

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