Both are NSCAA/adidas Scholar Athletes of the Year; Sinclair is only third female to repeat

Senior forward Christine Sinclair of the University of Portland and senior forward Jason Garey of the University of Maryland are the winners of the 2005 Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy, presented to the top female and male players in NCAA Division I soccer based on a vote of Division I coaches who are current members of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Their selections were announced live to a national television audience on ESPNews.

The winning duo shares a couple of things in common; they each helped their team win the national championship, and they have each been named the NSCAA/adidas Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Sinclair (Burnaby, British Columbia) is the winner of college soccer’s top prize for the second consecutive year, joining Mia Hamm (1992 and `93) and Cindy Parlow (1997 and `98) as the only back-to-back winners of the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy. She scored 39 goals during in 2005, breaking the single-season record of 37 set in 1987 by SMU’s Lisa Cole. Sinclair led the Pilots to an undefeated season and the national championship, Portland’s second in four years, and was named West Coast Conference Player of the Year for the third time in her career.

Sinclair finishes her career as Portland’s and the WCC’s all-time leader in goals. Her 110 career goals rank second in NCAA Division I history, and her 25 postseason goals is an NCAA record. The high-scoring Sinclair also made her mark in the classroom. Her 3.75 grade point average earned her the NSCAA award and the CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year. Sinclair already is established as one of Canada’s greatest soccer players ever. A member of the Canadian national team since 2000, she is the second highest goal-scorer in Canadian history. Sinclair played in all six games and tallied three goals at the 2003 Women’s World Cup, helping Canada to a surprise fourth-place finish.

The other two finalists for the women’s award were Notre Dame senior forward Katie Thorlakson (Langley, B.C.) and Penn State senior forward Tiffany Weimer (North Haven, Conn.).

Garey (Gonzales, La.) caps off a tremendous season by winning college soccer’s top honor. In 2005, he helped lead Maryland to the school’s first NCAA championship since 1968. Garey led the nation in scoring with 22 goals and finished his career as the school’s all-time leading goal-scorer with 60.

Fueled by Garey’s offensive fireworks, the University of Maryland entered the 2005 NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed. He scored several big goals during the Terrapins march to the national championship. In Maryland’s 4-1 victory over SMU in the semifinal match, Garey scored two goals just 15 seconds apart to establish the record for fastest consecutive goals in NCAA Tournament history.

The 2005 Atlantic Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year ,Garey is a two-time NSCAA/adidas All-America selection and was a semifinalist for the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy in 2004. The 6-foot, 180 lbs. forward was not only productive throughout his four-year career, he proved to be durable. Garey played in 90 of the 91 games Maryland has played since 2002.

Garey scored in classroom as well as on the soccer field. He was named the NSCAA/adidas Scholar Athlete of the Year, becoming just the third men’s player to win both National Player of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year in the same year. Garey is the first player from Maryland to win Player of the Year honors.

The other two finalists were Indiana University senior midfielder Brian Plotkin (Lisle, Ill.) and University of New Mexico senior forward Jeff Rowland (Albuquerque, N.M.).

An exhibition dedicated to the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy featuring all former recipients of both the M.A.C. 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 soccer Hall of Fame can be found at www.soccerhall.org.

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