Mami Yamaguchi Named Finalist For MAC Hermann Trophy

The junior forward becomes the first Seminole to be named a finalist for the award.

12/17/07


Kansas City, Kan. – What a year for Florida State soccer! Less than a week after the Seminoles advanced to their first national championship game in school history, FSU achieved another school first as junior forward Mami Yamaguchi was named a finalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy as announced by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and the Missouri Athletic Club. The Hermann Trophy is presented to the nation’s top collegiate player on both the women’s and men’s side.



This year’s finalist, which include Yamaguchi, UCLA’s Lauren Cheney and Texas A&M’s Ashlee Pistorious, were narrowed down from a list of 14 semifinalists. With this honor, Yamaguchi becomes the first Seminole to be named a finalist for the prestigious soccer award, while she is the sixth FSU student-athlete in the last four years to be named either a preseason watch list or semifinalist candidate. Yamaguchi joins a growing list of other Seminole greats who were in the running for the Hermann Trophy in previous years including Leah Gallegos (2004), Kelly Rowland (2005), Selin Kuralay (2006), India Trotter (2006) and Sarah Wagenfuhr (2007).



Yamaguchi began the season as Florida State’s leading returning scorer as she ranked third a season ago with 16 points (6 goals and 4 assists). This season alone she became the single-season record holder for points, goals and assists with 66, 24 and 18, respectively. She also set the school record for points in league play with 15 while tying Cindy Schofield for first all-time with six goals in one season. For her efforts, Yamaguchi was recognized as the ACC Offensive Player of the Year in 2007.



On the career charts, Yamaguchi is first all-time in assists with 30 and sits second in points (94) and goals (32). The Tokyo, Japan native began the season registering a point in her first 10 games, while setting the school record by scoring at least one goal in seven consecutive games. Yamaguchi registered a point in 22 of 26 games for the Seminoles in 2007.



“We are really happy for Mami,” said head coach Mark Krikorian. “She has had an exceptional season and is certainly a worth candidate for this very prestigious award.”



She tallied career-highs in points (7) and goals (3) in FSU’s 6-1 win over Cal State Northridge in Portland. Against the Matadors, Yamaguchi posted her first career multi-goal game with a hat trick. She would go on to add two more hat tricks in 2007 to become the first Seminole to register three hat tricks in a career. Her three three-goal games also marks the first time in the 13 years of women’s soccer that a Florida State student-athlete recorded multiple three goal games in one season.



Yamaguchi finished the season ranked fourth in the nation in scoring averaging 2.44 points per game. At one point during the season, she led the nation in scoring for a record six straight weeks. Yamaguchi wrapped up the season as the only student-athlete in the nation to rank in the top 10 in the three major offensive categories (points per game, goals per game and assists per game). In 26 games this season, she registered 12 multi-point performances to lead the ACC.



The Hermann Trophy finalists will fly out to St. Louis, Missouri for a live press conference and banquet on January 11, 2008, where the Missouri Athletic Club will announce the winners of the men’s and women’s awards for the 2007 season. The announcement will be carried live on ESPNews at 7:00 pm EST.