Four years ago, Amy Warner set one major individual goal that she wanted to achieve during her time at Notre Dame: to become an All-American. After three seasons of making the All-Big East Team, Warner made the jump as a senior by being named a first Team All-America last month."It is an honor," Warner said of receiving the award, "especially if I look back and see the other people that have made it. Becoming an All-American was one of my goals when entering college, and I am proud to have accomplished the goal I set for myself."Also making the All-America team was Big East Defensive Player of the Year Melissa Tancredi, who made the second team. Warner and Tancredi were both named first team All-Great Lakes Region. Junior Mary Boland and sophomore Erika Bohn both were second team All-Region selectionsDespite coming from a program that has combined for 27 NSCAA All-America honors in the past 10 years, Warner's selection earned her a remarkable distinction, as she became the first Irish forward to be named to the first team."[Being the first Irish forward to make the first team was] extremely surprising, especially with players like Jenny Streiffer and Jenny Heft having passed through here," Warner said.The Irish have also received a number of other awards since the season ended. Tancredi was a finalist for the Soccer Buzz Player of the Year award, while freshmen Christie Shaner and Jen Buczkowski were finalists for the Rookie of the Year. Irish coach Randy Waldrum is a finalist for National Coach of the Year for leading the Irish to the Big East Mid-Atlantic Division Title and a 20-3-1 record on the year. Vanessa Pruzinsky received more recognition by being one of eight finalists for the Socrates Award, a national student-athlete program sponsored by Sporting News Radio. The Socrates award is presented to the college student-athlete who best exemplifies excellence in athletics and academics.A few Irish players have also been called in to train with the U-21 and U-19 National Teams this month. Warner and Shaner will be training with the U-21 Team starting Jan. 23, while Buczkowski was called in to the U-19 Team camp that concluded Jan. 2. Warner was given one of the limited exemptions allowed for players over the designated age. The Irish squad also recently received the NSCAA Team Academic Award, presented to teams that earned better than a 3.0 GPA during the previous academic year. Leading the way for the Irish were Pruzinsky (4.0 cumulative GPA), Ashley Dryer (3.60 cumulative GPA), Warner (3.67 GPA spring 2003), and Kim Carpenter, who qualified for the Dean's List both semesters in 2002-03 as a pre-professional science major.
