Jan. 11, 2008

Courtesy of Seminoles.com

St. Louis, Mo. - The 2007 Florida State women's soccer season finished with a bang Friday evening in St. Louis, Mo., as the Missouri Athletic Club and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) named FSU's Mami Yamaguchi the winner of the MAC Hermann Trophy, presented to the top female player in NCAA Division I soccer.

Yamaguchi becomes the first Florida State player to claim the top individual honor in women's soccer. She led the country in points (66), while finishing second in goals (24) and assists (18). The Tokyo, Japan native was recognized as the ACC Offensive Player of the Year and earned her first NSCAA/adidas first-team All-America honor this year. She is also the first ACC woman from a school other than North Carolina to win the award.

The first runner-up on the women's side was UCLA sophomore forward Lauren Cheney (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Texas A&M senior forward Ashlee Pistorius (Bloomington, Ill.) was the second runner-up. Connecticut's O'Brian White received the honor on the men's side. Virginia Tech's Patrick Nyarko was the men's first runner-up.

The junior forward played a vital role in leading the Seminoles to the national championship game for the first time in school history. In the 2007 NCAA Tournament, she paced the Seminoles with three goals and eight assists. Her eight assists rank as both a single-season and an all-time postseason school record.

Following a record-breaking season for Yamaguchi, she ranks first all-time in career assists with 30 and sits second in points (94) and goals (32). She began the season registering a point in her first 10 games, while setting the school record by scoring at least one goal in seven consecutive games. Yamaguchi registered a point in 22 of 26 games for the Seminoles in 2007.

Yamaguchi finished the season ranked fourth in the nation in scoring averaging 2.44 points per game. At one point during the season, she led the nation in scoring for a record six straight weeks. Yamaguchi wrapped up the season as the only student-athlete in the nation to rank in the top 10 in the three major offensive categories (points per game, goals per game and assists per game). In 27 games this season, she registered 12 multi-point performances to lead the ACC.

The Missouri Athletic Club has been presenting college soccer's players of the year awards since 1986. The MAC was established in 1903 as an athletic, dining and social club. It has a "Platinum Club of America" status, which is awarded to the top private clubs in the country.

Based in Kansas City, Kan., the NSCAA is the largest coaches' organization in the United States. Since its founding in 1941, it has grown to include more than 26,000 members who coach both genders at all levels of the sport. In addition to a national rankings program for colleges and high schools, NSCAA offers an extensive recognition program that presents nearly 10,000 individual awards every year. It fulfills its mission of coaching education through a nationwide program of clinics and week-long courses, teaching more than 4,000 soccer coaches each year.

An exhibition dedicated to the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy featuring all former recipients of both the MAC and Hermann trophies, the current winners, a replica of the Irish crystal trophy and the original Hermann Trophy is on display at the National Soccer Museum in Oneonta, N.Y. Additional information about the National Soccer Hall of Fame can be found at www.soccerhall.org.