Jan. 31, 2004

NEW YORK. N.Y. - Soccer Buzz Magazine (www.soccerbuzz.com), the exclusive women's collegiate soccer web publication, announced its annual awards for women's NCA Division I soccer Saturday with NCAA Champion North Carolina sweeping the top three major awards. Carolina's achievement marks the first time a school has won the National Player, Freshman and Coach of the Year in the same season since the inception of Soccer Buzz awards in 1996. UNC's 18th national title and perfect 27-0 record brought continued recognition for the program as Soccer Buzz honored Lindsay Tarpley as National Player of the Year, Heather O'Reilly as National Freshman of the Year and Anson Dorrance as National Coach of the Year. This marks the third consecutive year that a Tar Heel has grabbed at least one of the three major awards and the fifth year in the eight year Buzz history that UNC was among the top winners. Tarpley's player of the year award is for the first for a North Carolina athlete since 1997 when Robin Confer became the second UNC player named tops in the nation by Soccer Buzz.

Players and coaches from 298 Division 1 programs were eligible in voting open to all Division 1 head coaches and Soccer Buzz staff.

Lindsay Tarpley becomes just the second sophomore ever to be recognized as the nation's top collegiate soccer player by Soccer Buzz, following last year's winner, Christine Sinclair of Portland. The striker from Kalamazoo, Mich., led the nation in scoring with 23 goals and 27 assists and was named ACC Player of the Year while leading the Heels to an unprecedented 16th ACC Championship. In UNC's NCAA title run, the striker established several NCAA Championship records including most tournamentpoints (19) and assists (11). The US National Team player, last year's National Freshman of the Year, joins Portland's Sinclair and Notre Dame's Anne Makinen as the only players to ever receive both National Freshman and Player of the Year recognition from Soccer Buzz during their collegiate careers. Tarpley is the third North Carolina player to win the top player award following Robin Confer in 1997 and Debbie Keller in 1996. She is also the fourth player from the Southeast region to earn the distinction, joined also by Florida's Danielle Fotopoulos in 1998. Tarpley easily outpolled her UNC teammate, senior defender Catherine Reddick, to give UNC a 1-2 finish for top player honors. Senior midfielder Joanna Lohman of Penn State was the third vote getter and sophomore midfielder Lori Chalupny of North Carolina was a distant fourth.

After topping her rookie season with the Most Valuable Offensive Player of the NCAA Tournament, Heather O'Reilly of North Carolina has been named the National Freshman of the Year. She gives North Carolina another distinction by following last year's Freshman of the Year winner, Lindsay Tarpley, establishing UNC as the only school with back-to-back winners and the loneprogram with multiple winners of this top rookie award (O'Reilly, Tarpley and Laurie Schwoy in 1996). The East Brunswick, N.J. native posted 16 goals and 11 assists during her first collegiate season including a UNC record of eight goals in the Tar Heels' tournament run. A hugely talented freshman pool accounted for several rookies receiving significant votes for the Freshman of the Year honor. While O'Reilly was a runaway winner of the award, a crowd of fellow classmates was bunched in a tight race for second. Virginia's Becky Sauerbrunn finished second in balloting followed very closely by Notre Dame's Jen Buczkowski (3rd), Portland's Stephanie Lopez (4th) and Florida's Melanie Booth (5th).

With a perfect 27-0 mark and another national championship to his credit, Anson Dorrance was voted National Coach of the Year for 2003. Dorrance's 2003 Carolina squad broke numerous records including a 32-0 goal differential in the NCAA tournament and the best record in NCAA soccer history. The award marks the third in Dorrance's career following past claims in 2001 and 1997. He succeeds the legendary and late Clive Charles of Portland who was the 2002 honoree. Patrick Baker of Florida State is the runner-up for National Coach of the Year after leading his Seminoles to their first ever College Cup appearance.

Carolina had three players named first-team All-America by Soccer Buzz as Tarpley, Chalupny and Reddick were all tapped named among the top 11 players. O'Reilly was named to the second team while sophomore midfielder Kacey White was named an honorable mention choice.

O'Reilly and defender Jessica Maxwell were named first-team Freshman All-Americas by Soccer Buzz.