Canada's Jessie Fleming celebrates after scoring her side's opening goal during the Women's World Cup Group E soccer match between Canada and New Zealand in Grenoble, France, Saturday, June 15, 2019. Canadian international midfielder Fleming is one of four finalists for the 2020 Honda Sport Award for Soccer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Francisco Seco
December 20, 2019 - 7:57 AM
Canadian international midfielder Jessie Fleming is one of four finalists for the 2020 Honda Sport Award for Soccer.
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) for the past 44 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports and signifies "the best of the best in collegiate athletics."
The winner of the soccer award becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the 2020 Honda Cup, to be presented June 22 in Los, Angeles.
Fleming, a senior from London, Ont., led UCLA to the College Cup for the second time in four years and was a College Cup all-tournament honouree for the second time.
The other finalists for the soccer award are junior midfielder Mikayla Colohan from BYU, junior defender Emily Fox from North Carolina, and junior midfielder/forward Catarina Macario of Stanford.
Fleming earned United Soccer Coaches first-team All-America honours for the second time and was an All-American for the third time overall. Fleming has been up for every major award this season, being selected a finalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy and the Senior CLASS Award.
She is just the third UCLA player ever to receive first-team All-Pac-12 acclaim four times, and was a four-time All-West Region honouree, earning first-team honours three times and second-team another.
Playing in a defensive midfield role this season, Fleming had three goals and four assists and ranked fifth on the team in scoring with 10 points while helping UCLA record 13 shutouts.
Fleming, who debuted for Canada 2013 at the age of 15, has won 70 caps for her country,
A materials engineering major with an environmental science minor, Fleming has twice earned honourable mention Pac-12 All-Academic honours.
The nominees were chosen by a panel of coaches representing the United Soccer Coaches Association.
The Honda Sport award winner for soccer will be announced next week after voting by administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2019.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2019