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Joy Fawcett Named San Diego Spirit MVP

August 21, 2002 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


SAN DIEGO - Defender Joy Fawcett, who missed most of the 2001 season while recovering from the birth of her third daughter, has been named the club's Most Valuable Player, as the San Diego Spirit announced its team post-season awards. The USA's #1 Soccer Mom was also honored by her teammates as the Spirit's Defender of the Year.

Midfielder and team captain Julie Foudy and midfielder Sherrill Kester finished second and third respectively behind Fawcett in the MVP voting. By being selected as the Defender of the Year ahead of Rhiannon Tanaka and Amy Sauer, Fawcett becomes the second dual award winner in team history. Last season, Shannon MacMillan captured both the team MVP and Playmaker of the Year honors.

The Spirit team members voted on four awards - Most Valuable Player, Playmaker of the Year, Team Player of the Year and Defender of the Year.

Playmaker of the Year honors was bestowed upon midfielder Jenny Mascaro. The award is defined as "the player who was the most creative and hard-working in creating scoring opportunities for the team." Despite missing eight games with a broken foot, Mascaro contributed one goal and four assists to the Spirit attack. Throughout the season, she showed her excellent vision on the field, providing her teammates with numerous scoring opportunities.

Kester, the only player to have seen action in all 21 matches, was chosen as Outstanding Team Player by her teammates, followed by Foudy and defender Kim Pickup. The Outstanding team Player was defined as "the player that did whatever was best for the team and provided the Spirit with the most towards a team concept."

The media that covered the Spirit during the season voted on one award, that being the Goal of the year, which was won by MacMillan for her spectacular 35-yard direct free-kick goal over San Jose goalkeeper LaKeysia Beene on July 14. MacMillan also won the team's Golden Boot Award, given to the top scorer, for the second consecutive year. She finished with five goals and a team-record eight assists.

MacMillan also won the Fan Favorite Award for the second straight season as voted on by the Spirit fans through the team's website, garnering 39% of the vote followed by Foudy.

The WUSA has announced a majority of its league-wide awards this week and Foudy was named to the All-WUSA second team for the second consecutive year. Foudy was second on the team in scoring with a personal-high five goals and 14 points this season. The MVP of the league will be announced on Thursday in Atlanta.

The following is a list of the Spirit and WUSA awards.

SAN DIEGO SPIRIT 2002 SEASON AWARD WINNERS:

Fan Favorite (Fans) - Shannon MacMillan

Most Valuable Player (Team) - Joy Fawcett

Defender of the Year (Team) - Joy Fawcett

Playmaker of the Year (Team) - Jenny Mascaro

Outstanding Team Player (Team) - Sherrill Kester

Goal of the Year (Media) - Shannon MacMillan

Golden Boot - Shannon MacMillan

(award voted on by)

WUSA 2002 SEASON AWARD WINNERS:

Offensive Player of the Year - Marinette Pichon, Philadelphia

Defensive Player of the Year -Danielle Slaton, Carolina

Rookie of the Year - Abby Wambach, Washington

Coach of the Year - Mark Krikorian, Philadelphia

Humanitarian Award - Sissi, San Jose

ALL-WUSA TEAMS:

All-WUSA First Team All-WUSA Second Team

Forward - Marinette Pichon, PHI Forward - Tiffeny Milbrett, NY

Forward - Katia, SJ Forward - Abby Wambach, WAS

Forward - Birgit Prinz, CAR Forward - Danielle Fotopoulos, CAR

Midfielder - Kristine Lilly, BOS Midfielder - Maren Meinert, BOS

Midfielder - Hege Riise, CAR Midfielder - Mia Hamm, WAS

Midfielder - Sissi, SJ Midfielder - Zhao Lihong, PHI

Midfielder - Homare Sawa, ATL Midfielder - JULIE FOUDY, SD

Defender - Danielle Slaton, CAR Defender - Jen Grubb, WAS

Defender - Jen Tietjen, PHI Defender - Jenny Benson, PHI

Defender - Erica Iverson, PHI Defender - Brandi Chastain, SJ

Goalkeeper - Kristin Luckenbill, CAR Goalkeeper - Briana Scurry, ATL



Women's United Soccer Association Stories from August 21, 2002


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