Dec. 18, 2007

KANSAS CITY, KAN. - University of North Carolina midfielders Yael Averbuch of Upper Montclair, N.J. and Tobin Heath of Basking Ridge, N.J. were named first-team All-Americas Tuesday by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Senior defender Jessica Maxwell of Colleyville, Texas was a second-team All-America selection on the NSCAA squad.

Fifteen schools were represented by more than one player, with three placing three on the team: North Carolina with Yael Averbuch (Upper Montclair, N.J.), Tobin Heath (Basking Ridge, N.J.) and Jessica Maxwell (Colleyville, Texas); West Virginia with Ashley Banks (Annandale, Va.), Greer Barnes (Rye, N.Y.), and Amanda Cicchini (Oakville, Ont.); and UCLA with Danesha Adams, Lauren Cheney (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Christina DiMartino (Massapequa Park, N.Y.).

Nine players received honors for the second time: Averbuch, Cheney, DiMartino, Maxwell, Stanford's Rachel Buehler (Del Mar, Calif.), BYU's Katie Larkin (Draper, Utah), Texas' Kasey Moore (Mission Viejo, Calif.), Texas A&M's Ashlee Pistorius (Bloomington, Ill.) and Hofstra's Sue Weber (Islip, N.Y.),

National champion Southern California had two players selected: sophomore goalkeeper Kristin Olsen (Orange, Calif.) and junior midfielder Ashley Nick (Monrovia, Calif.).

Cheney and Pistorius were joined by Florida State's Mami Yamaguchi (Tokyo, Japan) as the three finalists for the 2007 Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy, which will be presented in St. Louis on Friday, Jan. 11.