MAC Hermann Trophy to be Presented on Friday in St. Louis
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Jan. 8, 2015
Watch the Announcement Live at 7 p.m.
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Virginia senior midfielder Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.) is one of the three women’s finalists for the 2014 Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy, which will be presented Friday night at the club in downtown St. Louis. Brian, who won the award last season, looks to be just the fourth woman to repeat as the recipient of collegiate soccer’s most prestigious award.
The Missouri Athletic Club will announce the winner at 7 p.m. ET with the MAC Hermann Trophy website and NSCAAtv.com offering live streaming video of the announcement, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET.
The winners and finalists for the MAC Hermann Trophy are determined by a vote of Division I coaches who are members of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).
Brian joins Dagny Brynjarsdottir of Florida State and Sam Mewis of UCLA as this year’s women’s finalists. Alex Bono of Syracuse, Andy Craven of North Carolina and Leo Stolz of UCLA are the three men’s finalists.
Brian, who was named the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, had 10 goals and 14 assists in 2014, appearing in 18 games as the Cavaliers reached the NCAA final for the first time. The first three-time NSCAA First-Team All-American in Virginia history, she was named the 2014 U.S. Soccer Young Female Athlete of the Year. Brian missed eight games this season because of international duty as she was the only collegiate player on the United States Women’s National Team for the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying tournament in October. Upon her return to the lineup, she was the leading scorer in this year’s NCAA Tournament with four goals and nine assists, including tying the NCAA Tournament single-game record with five assists in the 8-0 first-round victory over High Point.
If Brian wins the award on Friday, she will join Mia Hamm of North Carolina (1992 and 1993), Cindy Parlow of North Carolina (1997 and 1998) and Christine Sinclair of Portland (2004 and 2005) as the only repeat female winners of Hermann Trophy. Kerri Hanks of Notre Dame also won it twice, in 2006 and 2008, but not consecutively.
Brian is one of five Virginia players to receive the crystal ball as the nation’s top player, joining the four Cavalier men to be named Hermann Trophy winners: Tony Meola (1989), Claudio Reyna (1993), Mike Fisher (1995 and 1996) and Alecko Eskandarian (2002). Virginia is one of three schools to produce both a men’s and women’s Hermann Trophy winner, along with Notre Dame and Penn State.