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Unifying the titles Wagner, Eskandarian win MAC's Hermann TrophyPosted: Thursday December 12, 2002 1:51 PMUpdated: Thursday December 12, 2002 2:43 PM ATLANTA (CNNSI.com) -- Senior midfielder Aly Wagner of Santa Clara University and junior forward Alecko Eskandarian of the University of Virginia are the winners of the 2002 Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy, presented to the top male and female players in NCAA Division I soccer. The winners were decided by a vote of current National Soccer Coaches Association of America members at the NCAA Division I level. This year's honorees have the distinction of being the first to receive the newly unified award. This summer's announcement of the unification of the MAC Award and Hermann Trophy completed the merging of NCAA Division I soccer's three top honors. In 1999, the MAC and NSCAA came together to create a single award recognizing the top Division I players.
Wagner won the award convincingly. Christie Welsh of Penn State, winner of the 2001 Hermann Trophy and the Missouri Athletic Club Player of the Year award, was the runner-up, followed by Catherine Reddick of North Carolina and Christine Sinclair of Portland. Eskandarian edged Pat Noonan of Indiana by four points to win the men's award. Noonan was also runner-up for the MAC award in 2001. Finishing third in the balloting was Diego Walsh of Southern Methodist University and fourth was Mike Tranchilla of Creighton. Eskandarian, a junior midfielder from Montvale, N.J., established himself as the most prolific single-season goal scorer in the storied soccer history of the University of Virginia. In 2002, he scored a school-record 25 goals in 20 games. His 25th goal came in the second round of the NCAA tournament against William and Mary. The season ended for the Cavaliers that day with a heartbreaking loss on penalty kicks. Eskandarian has posted 113 career points, sixth best all-time at Virginia. He has scored 50 goals, placing him fourth all-time at UVA. His 16 game-wining goals rank him third on the Cavaliers career list. Eskandarian becomes the fifth player from the University of Virginia to be recognized as college soccer's Player of the Year. He joins John Harkes, Tony Meola, Claudio Reyna and Mike Fisher as Cavaliers who have been honored by the MAC. Wagner, a senior midfielder from San Jose, Calif., helped lead the Broncos to last Sunday's 2002 College Cup title match, where they lost in overtime to Portland 2-1. She missed seven games with SCU this season while helping the U.S. Women's national team to the Gold Cup title and a berth in next year's Women's World Cup in China. Wagner has battled through several injuries throughout her career. Wagner is the second player from Santa Clara to win Player of the Year honors. Mandy Clemens captured the Hermann Trophy and MAC award in 1999. Wagner was a finalist for both the MAC and Hermann Awards in 2000 and 2001. Last season, Wagner helped lead Santa Clara to their first national championship. She scored the lone goal in the title match to give the Broncos a 1-0 victory over North Carolina.
Wagner has also excelled in the classroom, where she carries a 3.44 GPA in combined sciences.
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