Dec. 10, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Maryland junior forward Katie O’Donnell is the recipient of the 2009-10 Honda Sports Award for field hockey, announced today by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards. O’Donnell now becomes a nominee for the Honda-Broderick Cup, presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding collegiate woman athlete of the year.

O’Donnell is the seventh consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference field hockey student-athlete to win the award, and the fifth Terrapin to garner the honor since 2001-02 (Autumn Welsh), including back-to-back winner Paula Infante in 2005-06 and 2006-07, and Susie Rowe in 2008-09.

The Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 34th year, annually recognizes the top woman collegiate athlete in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, each of whom receives the Honda Sports Award. Additionally, a single student-athlete from the group of 12 Honda Sports Award winners is chosen as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and is presented with the Honda-Broderick Cup.

American Honda Motor Co., Inc.—the sponsor of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program—celebrates each nominee by donating $5,000 to each Honda Sports Award recipient’s school, including sophomore midfielder Paige Selenski, who was nominated from Virginia. Other nominees in field hockey included Katie Reinprecht of Princeton and Loren Sherer of Connecticut.

“Katie O’Donnell has been phenomenal to work with on and off the field,” said 22nd-year Maryland head coach Missy Meharg, the 2009 ACC Coach of the Year. “As the fifth Maryland national player of the year, Katie exemplifies a level of competition, courage, and work rate that elevates teammates and coaches alike. Maryland’s association with such a symbol of excellence can be attributed to an extraordinary 2009 team with a special player like Katie O’Donnell.”

O’Donnell had one of the best individual seasons in league history in leading Maryland to a 23-1 overall record in 2009, which included an 18-0 regular season (5-0 ACC), ACC regular-season and tournament championships, 11 straight No. 1 rankings by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association, and the school’s ninth appearance in the NCAA championship game. The Blue Bell, Pa., became the first three-time ACC Offensive Player of the Year in league history, and was named the ACC Championship’s Most Valuable Player, NFHCA Mid-Atlantic Region Player of the Year, and a first-team NFHCA All-American.

During the season, O’Donnell accounted for a school record 87 points for an ACC single-season record 3.63 points per game average, and finished her junior season as Maryland’s all-time leader in points with 208, which stands fourth in ACC history, just 22 points shy of tying former Virginia standout Meridith Thorpe (1995-98). Additionally, O’Donnell’s 31 assists upped her career total to an ACC-record 74, and her 28 goals made her the first player in school history to record 25 goals and 30 assists in a season.

Her 1.29 assists per game led the nation, while her 3.63 points per game and 1.29 goals per game ranked second and fifth in the nation, respectively.

“I am so thrilled to have even been nominated for the Honda award,” said O’Donnell. “To have ACC players win in seven consecutive years is a testament to ACC field hockey. I am honored to be a part of something like this.”

O’Donnell continued to set records in the semifinal round game of the 2009 NCAA Field Hockey Championship against Princeton in Winston-Salem, N.C. In Maryland’s 7-5 win over the Tigers, O’Donnell recorded a hat trick and tallied three assists for an NCAA championship single-game record nine points.

O’Donnell, an elementary education major and the recipient of the Bob and Carol Baker Director’s Circle Scholarship, is the 10th ACC field hockey student-athlete to win the award since 1976-77. In addition to Maryland’s Welsh, Infante, and Rowe, North Carolina’s Cindy Werley was honored in 1996 and 1997, while Wake Forest’s Kelly Doton and Kelly Dostal won the award in 2003-04 and 2004-05, respectively. Additionally, two ACC head coaches—North Carolina’s Karen Shelton and Wake Forest’s Jen Averill—were honored as student-athletes. Shelton won the award three times in 1976-77, 1977-78, and 1978-79 at West Chester University, while Averill was honored in 1986-87 at Northwestern University.

As the winner of the Honda Sports Award for field hockey, O’Donnell is a nominee for the Honda-Broderick Cup. Former winners of the Honda-Broderick Cup include NC State track and field standout Julie Shea in 1979-80, Virginia women’s basketball standout Dawn Staley (1990-91), and Olympic gold-medal winning women’s soccer start Mia Hamm of North Carolina in 1993-94.

More ACC field hockey information can be found at theACC.com.