July 12, 2001

ONEONTA, N.Y. - Maryland women's soccer coach Shannon Higgins-Cirovski is one of the 12 finalists for the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame, located in Oneonta, N.Y. She is the only woman among this year's nominees. The Hall of Fame bio notes that Shannon "Played in 51 full internationals for the United States, including four World Cup Qualifiers in 1991 and five World Cup games in 1991."

She assisted on both goals in the title game against Norway, a 2-1 victory for the USA. This was the first ever World Cup for Women. She retired from active playing after the World Cup and assumed head coaching responsibilities at George Washington University. She briefly served as head coach of the US U-18 National Team before taking over the head coaching job at Maryland. This will be here third year at Maryland.

The other nominees include Paul Child, Teofilo Cubillas, Rick Davis, Angelo DiBernardo, Randy Horton, Arnie Mausser, Shep Messing, Iljia Mitic, Bob Smith, Wolfgang Suhnholz, and Al Trost. Nearly all of these men were early pioneers in American professional soccer, playing in the old NASL.

Only two of the twelve players will be chosen to join superstars Pele, Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer, April Heinrichs and 218 other stars of American soccer immortalized in the Hall of Fame. The 2001 inductees will be announced in July and inducted in Oneonta, NY during a weekend long celebration October 13-14, 2001.