Your 2009 Honda Award winner. Photo by Allison Akers/The Diamondback
Though the Terrapin field hockey team’s season ended in disappointment, star forward Katie O’Donnell got to finish with a high note.
O’Donnell won this year’s Honda Sports Award for the nation’s top field hockey player today, claiming the award for her dominant play this season. The national leader in points and assists led the team to their first perfect regular season and an ACC Championship before they fell to North Carolina 3-2 in the National Championship game.
With the award, voted on by NCAA schools, O’Donnell earned $5,000 for the university’s scholarship fund from Honda. She also is qualified for further honors, moving into consideration for the Honda Broderick Cup, given at the end of the academic year to the nation’s top female college athlete.
The three-year starter dominates on the field, setting the pace for the team all through a record-breaking season. With 31 assists on the season, she moved into first place in the ACC in career assists with 74 in just her third year, and she broke the school’s single-season and career points leader, notching 87 for the year and 208 overall. She also came second in the nation in goals with 28, trailing just her senior teammate Nicole Muracco, who had 31.
She has not lacked recognition for her accomplishments this season. She claimed National Player of the Year honors for the first time and Offensive Player of the Year Honors for the second straight season from womensfieldhockey.com.
O’Donnell is also a first-team All-American and the ACC Offensive Player of the Year for the third season in a row, and since 2005 has competed at a national level, becoming the youngest player ever on the Senior National team.
The Terps didn’t need an award to tell them how much O’Donnell means to the team. She often provides the spark on the attack to pushed the team to victory, and just as often makes her impact felt with her speed and physical play on the defensive side of the ball.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t believe she deserves it, or that they are not proud to have one of their own atop the country, even if their team couldn’t be.
O’Donnell’s win marks the continuation of a new Terp tradition. Four Terps in five years have won the field hockey award, including Susie Rowe, O’Donnell’s teammate last year, and Paula Infante in 2005 and 2006. If she performs to the same level next year that marked her play this season, she could pull a repeat herself.
Kate Yanchulis was the Terrapin field hockey beat reporter for the 2009 season. He can be reached at kyanchulis@umdbk.com.