Winners announced on live television for the first time

Junior forward Christine Sinclair of the University of Portland and senior midfielder Danny O’Rourke of Indiana University are the winners of the 2004 Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy, presented to the top female and male 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 and were announced live to a national television audience on ESPNEWS.

2005 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy
Sinclair (Burnaby, British Columbia) scored 22 goals, 11 assists and 10 game-winners during the 2004 season en route to winning college soccer’s top prize. She finished fourth nationally in total points and tied for third in goals. Sinclair was named West Coast Conference Player of the Year for the second time in her career and led the Pilots to the quarterfinals of the 2004 NCAA Tournament.

Sinclair is already 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.

In just three seasons at Portland, Sinclair is already ranked among Portland’s career leaders in game-winners (1st), points (3rd), goals (3rd), shots (3rd) and assists (12th). In 2002, Sinclair scored both goals in the College Cup finals against Santa Clara in leading Portland to the national championship.

A life science major with a 3.68 cumulative grade-point average, she is the only Portland player in history to garner two CoSIDA Academic All-American selections. Sinclair becomes the 2nd women’s player from the University of Portland to earn college soccer’s top honor. Shannon MacMillan won the M.A.C. and the Hermann awards in 1995.

The other two women's finalists for the 2004 Hermann Trophy were University of North Carolina sophomore forward Heather O’Reilly (East Brunswick, N.J.) and Penn State junior forward Tiffany Weimer (North Haven, Conn.).

O’Rourke (Columbus, Ohio) caps off a tremendous season by winning college soccer’s top honor. In 2004, he helped lead Indiana to its second consecutive NCAA championship. The team tri-captain anchored an IU defense that posted 11 shutouts and ranked among the national leaders in goals against (0.63). He was a unanimous first team All-Big Ten selection and an NSCAA/adidas first team All-America.

In the 2004 College Cup semifinals, O’Rourke assisted on the game-winner in the Hoosiers’ come-from-behind 3-2 double-overtime victory over Maryland, earning selection to the College Cup All-Tournament team.

O’Rourke not only excelled on the field, but in the classroom as well. He was named the NSCAA/adidas Scholar Athlete of the Year, becoming just the second player to win both National Player of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year in the same year.

O’Rourke becomes the sixth player from Indiana to win National Player of the Year honors: Todd Yeagley `94 and Ken Snow `88 & `90 won the M.A.C. Award; Brian Maisonneuve `94, Armando Betancourt `81 and Angelo DiBernardo `78 won the Hermann Trophy.

The other two men's finalists for the 2004 Hermann Trophy were Virginia Commonwealth senior defender Gonzalo Segares (San Jose, Costa Rico) and Tulsa junior forward Ryan Pore (Mansfield, Ohio).

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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