Notre Dame junior soccer star, Melissa Henderson -- was named as one of the three finalists for the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Award yesterday by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. This award is given annually to the top player in women's soccer -- and the winner will be announced on January 7th at a news conference in downtown St. Louis at the Missouri Athletic Club followed by an awards dinner that evening at the M.A.C. Henderson was named a first team All-American, Most Valuable Offensive Player in the NCAA Tournament, Big East Offensive Player of the Year and 1st Team all-Big East -- as she led the Irish to their third National Championship.
One "fun fact" about Henderson's career at Notre Dame -- the Irish are undefeated in the 45 games that Melissa has an assist -- including the National Championship game where her assist led to the winning goal! Henderson is the third Notre Dame women's soccer player to be a finalist for the Hermann Award; Katie Thorlakson in 2005 and two-time Hermann Trophy Award winner -- Kerri Hanks who won the award in 2006 and 2008. The other two finalists this year are; Alex Morgan (California) and Christen Press (Stanford). This next week -- Henderson and her Irish teammate Lauren Fowlkes are off to train with the United States's U23 Team from December 12th to the 19th at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. Congratulations Melissa!!!
A ND GO IRISH BLOG "thank you" goes out to Dr. Jim Clancy for alerting us to this story. Here's a link to the story at UND.COM.
LINK:
HENDERSON A FINALIST FOR NATIONAL POY
