Virginia Soccer Star Mia Hamm Is Voted Top Female Athlete
North Carolina’s Mia Hamm, the most dominant player in NCAA women’s soccer history, was named winner of the 18th annual Honda-Broderick Cup as the nation’s top female college athlete Monday night.
Hamm received the award at the Honda Awards dinner, held each year in conjunction with the NCAA convention.
An estimated 1,300 persons attended this year’s dinner.
Hamm, of Burke, Va., the first soccer player to receive the award:
--Led the Tar Heels to four NCAA titles, and was an All-American three years.
--Became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history with 103 goals, 72 assists and 278 points, as well as the all-time leading scorer in tournament history with 16 goals and nine assists.
Hamm, then 19, was the youngest player on the U.S. team that won the first FIFA Women’s World Championship in China in 1991. She is a member of the U.S. national team that will try to defend its title in Sweden in June.
Hamm was selected in a national vote over 10 other single-sport winners:
Basketball player Lisa Leslie of USC, volleyball player Danielle Scott of Long Beach State, softball player Susie Parra of Arizona, golfer Wendy Ward of Arizona State, field hockey player Kristy Gleason of Iowa, swimmer Nicole Haislett of Florida, gymnast Jenny Hansen of Kentucky, track and field sprinter Holli Hyche of Indiana State, tennis player Angela Lettiere of Georgia and cross country runner Carole Zajac of Villanova.
Others honored at the dinner were Division II winner Stacy Metro of Northern Michigan, a volleyball player; Division III winner Carla Ainsworth of Kenyon College, a swimmer; and Inspiration Award winner Haley Scott of Notre Dame, a swimmer who returned to competition after a 1992 bus accident left her initially paralyzed.
