These Tar Heels are hoping to succeed Penn State's Christie Welsh as the winner. Welsh has the opportunity to join an elite list of soccer players with the announcement of the 30 finalists (15 men, 15 women) for the trophy for men and women, awarded to the top players in NCAA Division I soccer.
Winner of the women's award for the 2001 season as a junior, Welsh is back on the ballot this season. As a repeat winner, she would join Mia Hamm and Cindy Parlow, both former UNC players, as the only women to earn back-to-back M.A.C. honors.
On the men's side, Tar Heel junior defender David Stokes was named one of 15 men finalists for the award.
Stokes, a preseason All-America this season, was the Defensive MVP of last year's NCAA College Cup, helping lead the Tar Heels to the 2001 NCAA championship. He has started every game in his three-year career at UNC -- 67 games in a row. He played with the U.S. Under-23 National Team in February 2002 in Portugal and Italy.
This year's honorees will have the distinction of being the first to receive the newly unified award. This summer's announcement of the unification of the M.A.C. Award and the Hermann Trophy completed the merging of NCAA Division I soccer's three top honors. In 1999, the M.A.C. and the NSCAA came together to create a single award recognizing the top Division I players. The winners of the M.A.C.'s Hermann Trophy will be decided by a vote of current NSCAA members at the NCAA Division I level.
Winners will be announced at a news conference in Dallas on Dec. 12.
