Nov. 25, 2009
U.S. Soccer Young Female Athlete of the Year Voting • Soccer News Net Player of the Year Voting
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.--Senior forward Katie Schoepfer (Waterford, Conn.) and freshman midfielder Christine Nairn (Bowie, Md.) were named finalists of the 2009 U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year Award, while junior forward Danielle Toney (Northville, Mich.) is up for the Soccer News Net National Player of the Year Award. Fan voting for those two awards end Dec. 13 and 15, respectively.
Schoepfer and Nairn are one of five candidates for the award handed out yearly by the U.S. Soccer Federation. The other three finalists are Tobin Heath of North Carolina, Sydney Leroux of UCLA and Kelley O'Hara of Stanford.
The finalists were nominated based on competing and excelling at the highest level during the calendar year in collegiate and national team levels as well as exhibiting decorum on and off the field, while contributing toward the growth, development, credibility and popularization of soccer in the United States. Online voting for the annual award counts for 50 percent of the total vote, while the other half is represented by votes from members of the national media as well as U.S. Soccer representatives. Voting ends on Dec. 13.
Toney, on the other hand, is up for the Soccer Net Player of the Year Award. Forty percent of fan voting helps decide the winner based on a field of candidates spanning the nation. There are six regional sites of the Soccer News Net family, as PhillySoccerNews.com serving at Penn State's regional website.
Toney was one of six local players nominated while being part of the national pool. Toney is up for Regional Player of the Year as well as National Player of the Year, while voting continues until Dec. 15.
For complete coverage of Penn State women's soccer, please visit http://www.GoPSUsports.com/sports/w-soccer.
Follow Penn State women's soccer on Twitter: @PSUWomensSoccer
--NITTANY LIONS--