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Spirit's MacMillan Wins U.S. Soccer's Top Honor

January 10, 2003 - Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA)
San Diego Spirit News Release


SAN DIEGO (January 10, 2003) -- U.S. Soccer announced the winners of its 2002 Chevy Female and Youth Female Athlete of the Year awards at a press conference today in San Diego, Calif., where the U.S. Women's National Team is set to kick off the road to the 2003 Women's World Cup with a match against Japan on Sunday (Jan. 12) at Torero Stadium, live at 1 p.m. PT on ESPN.

The top annual award went to U.S. Women's National Team forward Shannon MacMillan, who was named 2002 Chevy Female Athlete of the Year. As it has done since 1998, U.S. Soccer and Chevy also announced the Young Female Athlete of the Year award, which went to former U.S. Under-19 Women's National Team forward and team captain Lindsay Tarpley.

"We're honored to once again be involved with the Athlete of the Year awards," said Brian Boyd, Chevrolet brand promotional manager. "This year, each Adult Athlete winner will have their choice of a Chevy TrailBlazer or Chevy Impala. We'll also donate $1,000 to the U.S. Soccer Foundation in the name of each Young Athlete winner. Chevy has a long history of being there, supporting aspiring athletes and our support of U.S. Soccer is one more example of this."

One of the U.S. Women's National Team's most improved players over the past few years, MacMillan had a breakout scoring year for the U.S. in 2002, leading the high-scoring U.S. team with an impressive 17 goals and three assists for a team-best 37 points. The Escondido, Calif., native started the year with a bang, pouring in three goals and three assists in a 7-0 win over Mexico on Jan. 12, 2002. MacMillan went on to score in six of the team's first eight matches this year, including scoring seven of the team's eight total goals at the prestigious 2002 Algarve Cup in Portugal, notching her second hat trick of the year in a 3-2 win over Denmark.

MacMillan, a two-time Olympic medalist and key member of the 1999 Women's World Cup champion squad, helped the U.S. qualify for China 2003 by scoring four goals (behind only Tiffeny Milbrett's seven goals and Cindy Parlow's five goals) at the 2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup. With her 17 goals last year, she moved into 6th place on the all-time U.S. scoring list with 52 goals and 43 assists for 147 points in 145 career caps. On the professional level, she led the San Diego Spirit in scoring for the second consecutive year, notching five goals and eight assists for 18 points.

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