Dec. 10, 2009

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Maryland field hockey junior Katie O'Donnell won this year's Honda Sports Award earlier today, the award given to the nation's top field hockey player. O'Donnell won the award for her outstanding performance in the 2009 season. Voted on by over a 1,000 NCAA member schools across the nation, the award automatically nominates her for the Honda Broderick Cup, an award given to the nation's top female collegiate athlete.

This is the fourth Honda Sports Award for field hockey won by a Maryland athlete in five years. Susie Rowe won in 2008, while Paula Infante won in both 2005 and 2006. Autumn Welsh won the prestigious award in 2002. A field hockey student-athlete from an Atlantic Coast Conference school has won the award in the each of the last six years.

"I am so thrilled to have even been nominated for the Honda Sports Award," O'Donnell said. "To win the fourth award in five years for Maryland is truly an honor. I am grateful to be a part of a program like Maryland field hockey."

Maryland head coach Missy Meharg said, "Katie O'Donnell has been phenomenal to work with on and off the field. As the fifth Maryland Honda Sports Award recipient, Katie exemplifies a level of competition, courage work rate that elevates teammates and coaches' alike. Maryland's association with such a symbol of excellence can be attributed to an extraordinary 2009 team with a special player in Katie."

Earlier this month, O'Donnell was named the nation's Offensive Most Valuable Player for the second straight year, and National Player of the Year, both by womensfieldhockey.com. O'Donnell was named an NFHCA First Team All-American for the third consecutive year and the All-Mid Atlantic Region Player of the Year. She led the nation in points (87) and assists (31). O'Donnell finished the year ranked second in the ACC in goals (28), only behind teammate Nicole Muracco (31).

In November, she was named the ACC's Offensive Player of the Year award, also for the third consecutive year, and earned the honor of ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player for her performance in the Terrapins' march to the ACC Championship.

Over the course of the 2009 season, O'Donnell broke an unprecedented number of school, conference, and national records. She became the school's single-season (87) and career points leader (208). She broke the ACC and Maryland career assist records and now has 74 career assists. O'Donnell is the first player in Maryland history to break 25 goals and 30 assists in a season.

With her performance this year, she earned her 200th point, making her the 24th player in NCAA history to break the 200-point mark. In the NCAA semifinals round, she recorded a new Tournament record - nine points in a championship round game.

Internationally, O'Donnell has been a member of the U.S. Senior National team since 2005 and was the youngest player ever to record a cap for a U.S. team. She competed with fellow Terps Brianna Davies and Alexis Pappas in the Junior World Cup games this past summer.

O'Donnell is an elementary education major and a recipient of the Bob and Carol Baker Director's Circle Scholarship. In the 2008-09 academic year, she earned spots on both the ACC's honor roll and the Maryland honor roll. Earlier this fall, she was featured as the cover story in the fall 2009 edition of NCAA's Champions magazine.

Other nominees for this year's award are Paige Selenski (Virginia), Katie Reinprecht (Princeton) and Loren Sherer (Connecticut). In addition to the honor of this award, American Honda will donate $5,000 to the university's scholarship fund.