Two Clemson Soccer Players Nominated For Player Of The Year Awards

Oct. 29, 2001

Clemson, SC – Clemson sophomore soccer players Oguchi Onyewu and Lindsay Browne have each been nominated for the Missouri Athletic Club men’s and women’s Collegiate Soccer Players of the Year awards. The M.A.C. award is the official National Soccer Coaches Association of America award for Division I players. 15 women’s players and 15 men’s players are nominated for this year’s award and Clemson is one of only four Division I schools to have a nominee for both the men’s and women’s awards.

Onyewu, a 2000 First-Team All-ACC defender from Olney, Maryland, is one of three ACC players to be nominated for the men’s award. Despite being a defender, Onyewu has three goals and four assists for a total of 10 points for the eighth-ranked Tigers this season. He was named the Defensive MVP of the Clemson Nike Invitational earlier this season after leading Clemson to consecutive shutout victories over Cal Poly and 20th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth. For his outstanding performance in the tournament, Onyewu was also named the ACC Player of the Week on October 1. Onyewu is a major reason why Clemson has allowed only 13 goals all season and has six shutout victories.

Browne, a forward from Encinitas, CA, is one of just two sophomores listed on the women’s ballot. Named last season’s National Freshman of the Year by Soccer America, Browne currently leads the 12th-ranked Lady Tigers with nine goals and seven assists for 25 points. Despite being just a sophomore, she is currently seventh all-time in Clemson history in points with 63 and is on pace to break the all-time record of 114 points set by Sara Burkett between 1995-1998. She was named the ACC Player of the Week on October 1 for her three goal performance against 11th-ranked Virginia. For her play against the Cavaliers, she was also selected to Soccer America’s Team of the Week.

The winner of both the men’s and women’s award will be presented with the prestigious crystal ball trophy at the awards banquet on Friday, January 11, 2002 at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis. They also will be honored at the NSCAA convention in January in Philadelphia.

Women’s Collegiate Soccer Player of the Year Candidates: Meghan Anderson, senior midfielder, Nebraska Danielle Borgman, senior defender, North Carolina Lindsay Browne, sophomore forward, Clemson Aleisha Cramer, sophomore midfielder, BYU Jena Kluegel, senior midfielder, North Carolina Christine Latham, junior forward, Nebraska Lori Lindsey, senior midfielder, Virginia Mary-Francis Monroe, senior midfielder, UCLA Vanessa Pruzinsky, junior defender, Notre Dame Laura Schott, junior forward, California Danielle Slaton, senior defender, Santa Clara Hope Solo, junior goalie, Washington Aly Wagner, junior midfielder, Santa Clara Abby Wambach, senior forward, Florida Christie Welsh, junior forward, Penn State

Men’s Collegiate Soccer Player of the Year Candidates: Brad Davis, sophomore forward, St. Louis Alecko Eskandarian, sophomore forward, Virginia Mohamed Fahim, senior midfielder, SMU Chris Gbandi, senior defender, Connecticut Gavin Glinton, senior forward, Bradley Luchi Gonzalez, senior forward, SMU Kyle Martino, junior midfielder, Virginia Lee Morrison, senior defender, Stanford Pat Noonan, junior forward, Indiana John Barry Nusum, senior forward, Furman Oguchi Onyewu, sophomore defender, Clemson Dipsy Selolwane, senior forward, St. Louis Mike Tranchilla, junior forward, Creighton Ricardo Villar, senior midfielder, Penn State Alex Yi, sophomore defender, UCLA