Kristine Lilly, Lori Chalupny Win U.S. Soccer's Top Awards For 2005
Dec. 25, 2005 CHICAGO, ILL. - For their excellence at the highest levels of the sport, U.S. Soccer named U.S. Men's National Team goalkeeper Kasey Keller as the 2005 Male Athlete of the Year and U.S. Women's National Team midfielder Kristine Lilly as the 2005 Female Athlete of the Year. Under-20 MNT midfielder Benny Feilhaber and WNT defender Lori Chalupny won the Young Male and Young Female Awards, respectively. Both Lilly and Chalupny were All-America stars at the University of North Carolina. Lilly was a National Player of the Year at UNC, playing from 1989-92. Chalupny was a consensus three-time first-team All-America honoree at UNC from 2002-05. The U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year awards have a longer history than any major award in American soccer - more than 20 years. 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. Lilly is also a recipient of the honor, having won the award in 1993. This is a record span between winning any of the awards, with the largest previous span being eight years by Michelle Akers (1991-1999). In the 12 years between awards, Lilly appeared for the U.S. 235 times and has scored 85 goals, while winning three World Championships. "Of course it's an honor, and it's always nice when people appreciate your contribution to the game and to the U.S. National Team," Lilly said. "I know I won this award 12 years ago, and I'm not sure what I think about that!" "We had quite a few players who played well this year; including some younger ones who I am sure will be leading us to future World Cup and Olympic success. I want to congratulate Kasey, Benny and Lori. I have enjoyed watching all of them play and I'm looking forward to a great 2006 with the women and to rooting on our men in Germany." Chalupny started six games at left back for the U.S. WNT in 2005 after playing most of her career as a midfielder. She also starred for the U.S. U-21 WNT in the Nordic Cup title run. Chalupny is the fourth successive UNC player to win the Young Female Player of the Year award after Lindsay Tarpley in 2002, Catherine Reddick in 2003 and Heather O'Reilly in 2004. Female Athletes of the Year from UNC 1986 April Heinrichs Young Female Athletes of the Year from UNC
1998 Cindy Parlow
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