Talonen Garners Freshman Of The Year Honors

As Soccer America Announces Postseason Accolades

The Seminoles place three student-athletes on the All-Freshman Teams.



Tallahassee, Fla. – The postseason accolades continue to shower the Florida State women’s soccer team following their most successful season in school history culminating with a berth in the national championship game. On Thursday, December 20, Soccer America recognized four Seminole student-athletes for their efforts during the 2007 campaign including Sanna Talonen who was named Freshman of the Year. Junior Mami Yamaguchi and fellow freshmen teammates Amanda DaCosta and Erin McNulty were all honored.



Talonen had an outstanding freshman season for the Garnet and Gold as she finished the year with 42 points on 18 goals and six assists. Eight of those goals were scored in the NCAA Tournament as Talonen tied India Trotter, who tallied eight goals over four seasons, for the most goals scored all-time at Florida State in the postseason. She became the first Seminole to score two hat tricks in the NCAA Tournament as she was responsible for all the goals scored in wins over Kennesaw State (3-0) and Connecticut (3-2). Her third goal in double overtime against the Huskies advanced Florida State to its third straight College Cup and fourth appearances in the last five years. Talonen closed out the tournament with 17 points (8 goals, 1 assist), three game-winning goals and one game-winning assist.



The Tampere, Finland native finished the season as the all-time freshman leader for goals, points and game-winning goals surpassing Emma Breland who set all three marks in 2000. She led the team in game-winning goals, tied in game-winning assists and ranked second on the team in points, goals and shots. She also ranked in the top 25 nationally in points per game and goals per game. Talonen becomes the first Seminole to win National Freshman of the Year honors.



The Seminoles, along with Southern California, each placed three student-athletes on the All-Freshmen teams to lead the nation. DaCosta and Talonen both earned first team honors, while McNulty was recognized on the second team. The ACC was well represented on Soccer America’s All-Freshmen teams as seven student-athletes from five schools were honored to lead all conferences. Florida State and Virginia were the only schools to place multiple players on the first team.



DaCosta started in all 27 games for the Seminoles in 2007 as she finished third on the team in points with 21 (six goals, nine assists). Her nine assists were one shy of tying the freshman single-season record set by Julia Schnugg in 2003. DaCosta scored the game-winning goal in the national semifinal against Notre Dame to send Florida State to its first appearance in the national championship game. Among DaCosta’s accomplishments in her first season as a Seminole, she was named a second team All-ACC honoree and was a member of the ACC All-Freshmen, ACC All-Tournament and NCAA College Cup Tournament teams. She became just the second Seminole to earn a spot on the All-ACC first or second team and the All-ACC Freshman team in the same season (Emma Breland, 2000).



McNulty joined DaCosta as the only two freshmen to start in all 27 games this year. The Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada native was a solid force between the posts for the Seminoles as she set freshman single-season school records for wins (18), shutouts (8.0) and goals against average (0.94). She tallied over 2300 minutes in goal for the Seminoles in 2007 en route to making 84 saves. McNulty set the school record for wins in a season in the NCAA Tournament with five surpassing the previous mark of four set by Joy McKenzie in 2003 and Ali Mims last year. She tied the school record for postseason shutouts with two in wins over LSU and Texas in the second and third rounds of the NCAA Tournament.



Yamaguchi was named a first team MVP by Soccer America. It marks the third straight year that a Florida State student-athlete earned MVP honors as Yamaguchi joins Trotter (2006) and Selin Kuralay (2005).



In 2007, Yamaguchi 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. On the FSU 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 contests. Yamaguchi registered a point in 22 of 27 games for the Seminoles in 2007.



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 27 games this season, she registered 12 multi-point performances to lead the ACC.



This year the junior forward was recognized as the ACC Offensive Player of the Year, a first-team All-ACC selection and a finalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy and Honda Award. The winner of the Hermann Trophy will be announced on January 11, 2008, while the Honda Award will announce its winner on January 14.