Dec. 22, 2004

CHICAGO, ILL. - For her excellence at the highest level of the sport, U.S. Soccer named U.S. Women's National Team forward Heather O'Reilly of the University of North Carolina as The Chevy Young Female Athlete of the Year Wednesday. O'Reilly, a first-team All-America Tar Heel and East Brunswick, N.J. native, is the fifth Tar Heel to win the award in its seven-year existence.

The Chevy Athlete awards have a longer history than any major award in American soccer, and they join the FIFA Players of the Year as the only two awards to honor both the top male and the top female in the sport. Other winners this year were Landon Donovan for the U.S. Men's Athlete of the Year, Abby Wambach as the U.S. Women's National Player of the Year and Ed Johnson as the Young Male Athlete of the Year.

"We're honored to once again be involved with the Athlete of the Year awards," said Phil Caruso, Chevrolet Promotions Manager. "Chevy has a long history of supporting aspiring athletes, and our partnership with U.S. Soccer is just one more example of our ongoing commitment. This year, each of the Adult Athlete winners will receive their choice of either a Chevy TrailBlazer or the all new Chevy Equinox. We'll also donate $1,000 to the U.S. Soccer Foundation in the name of each Young Athlete winner."

As in years past, online votes registered at ussoccer.com were tallied and equivalent to 50 percent of the total votes, while the other 50 percent was represented by 100 votes that were compiled from members of the national media and U.S. Soccer representatives (from National Team coaches to the National Board of Directors).

After an impressive stint with the U.S. Under-19 Women's National Team that included a world championship in 2002, Heather O'Reilly made her mark with the full U.S. Women's Team and played a key role in helping them win a championship of their own in 2004. The youngest player on the 2004 Olympic Team, she served as the "super sub" off the bench in 11 matches for the WNT, scoring a goal and 2 assists. Her overtime winner against Germany was one of the most important in WNT history, sending the U.S. to the Olympic final.

The Young Female Athlete Award was first given in 1998 to former UNC player Cindy Parlow. It has since been won by UNC players four more times in the past six years as Lorrie Fair won in 1999, Lindsay Tarpley in 2002, Catherine Reddick in 2003 and O'Reilly in 2004.

Chevrolet, the largest division of General Motors Corporation, has been a proud sponsor of U.S. Soccer, the U.S. Youth Soccer Association and state soccer associations since 1997.