Mami Yamaguchi Wins MAC Hermann Trophy
The junior forward is the first FSU player to claim the nation’s top individual honor.

St. Louis, Mo. – The 2007 Florida State women’s soccer season finished with a bang Friday evening in St. Louis, Mo., as the Missouri Athletic Club and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) named FSU’s Mami Yamaguchi the winner of the MAC Hermann Trophy, presented to the top female player in NCAA Division I soccer.

Yamaguchi becomes the first Florida State player to claim the top individual honor in women’s soccer. She led the country in points (66), while finishing second in goals (24) and assists (18). The Tokyo, Japan native was recognized as the ACC Offensive Player of the Year and earned her first NSCAA/adidas first-team All-America honor this year.

The junior forward played a vital role in leading the Seminoles to the national championship game for the first time in school history. In the 2007 NCAA Tournament, she paced the Seminoles with three goals and eight assists. Her eight assists rank as both a single-season and an all-time postseason school record.

Following a record-breaking season for Yamaguchi, she ranks first all-time in career assists with 30 and sits second in points (94) and goals (32). She 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.

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.

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

The first runner-up on the women’s side was UCLA sophomore forward Lauren Cheney (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Texas A&M senior forward Ashlee Pistorius (Bloomington, Ill.) was the second runner-up. Connecticut’s O’Brian White received the honor on the men’s side.

The Missouri Athletic Club has been presenting college soccer’s players of the year awards since 1986. The MAC was established in 1903 as an athletic, dining and social club. It has a “Platinum Club of America” status, which is awarded to the top private clubs in the country.

Based in Kansas City, Kan., the NSCAA is the largest coaches' organization in the United States. Since its founding in 1941, it has grown to include more than 26,000 members who coach both genders at all levels of the sport. In addition to a national rankings program for colleges and high schools, NSCAA offers an extensive recognition program that presents nearly 10,000 individual awards every year. It fulfills its mission of coaching education through a nationwide program of clinics and week-long courses, teaching more than 4,000 soccer coaches each year.

An exhibition dedicated to the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy featuring all former recipients of both the MAC 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 National Soccer Hall of Fame can be found at www.soccerhall.org.