Hislop Named NSCAA/adidas Division II Player of the Year
Belfast, Northern Ireland, native earns fourth Player of the Year honor in program history
RINDGE, N.H. (December 23, 2003) - Sophomore All-America forward Laura Hislop (Belfast, Northern Ireland) put a cap on her season by earning the top honor in Division II soccer as she was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Player of the Year, announced today.
Hislop is the fourth player in program history to be named Division II Player of the Year, joining Franklin Pierce Hall of Famer Ewa Bergsten (1992) and fellow All-Americans Nathalie Geeris (1994) and Pauliina Auveri (1997). Franklin Pierce's four Player of the Year honorees leads all Division II programs.
Hislop, who has earned first team All-America, All-New England and All-Northeast-10 accolades in her first season at the College since transferring from Virginia Intermont College, led Division II with 85 points and 23 assists, while her NE-10 leading 31 goals were good for second in the country. She became the seventh player since the Northeast-10 began sponsoring women's soccer as a championship sport in 1984 to lead the Conference in points, goals and assists and the first to do so since Merrimack's Kim Hall posted the "triple-crown" in 1997. Hislop also totaled a team-best five hat tricks, with three of those coming in postseason play, seven match-winning goals and seven first goals.
Hislop set a program record on September 24, when she totaled 13 points with a program-record matching five goals to go with three assists in a 10-1 Ravens win over Stonehill College.
The six-time NE-10 Player of the Week was named MVP of the Conference Tournament as she totaled 16 points with seven goals and two assists in the three matches to lead the Ravens to their fourth-straight title. She registered back-to-back hat tricks to open the postseason in leading Franklin Pierce to victories over Pace University and Southern New Hampshire University in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.
Hislop was later named to the All-NCAA Tournament team as she led all Franklin Pierce players with five goals to go with an assist for 11 points. Her five markers in the Tournament were just two shy of the NCAA Division II Tournament record. She also nearly matched the NCAA Tournament's single-game goals record as her three markers in the Ravens 4-1 win over No. 16 College of Saint Rose in the New England Region final was just one off the mark.
Hislop's point total from this season ranks second only to All-American Pauliina Miettinen's 105 in 1998 on the program's single-season list and is the sixth-highest single-season total in NCAA Division II history. Her 23 assists fell just one shy of Angela Verdoes' record of 24 set in 1999 and is the fifth-highest single-season total in Division II lore. Her 31 goals are tied for the fifth-highest total in program history and is tied for 17th-highest for a single-season in DII history.
Hislop will enter her junior season at the College ranked 13th on the program's all-time scoring list and tied for 12th on its career goals list.
Hislop has earned 15 caps for the Republic of Ireland's women's national team, which is in the midst of European Championship qualification. She and teammate Sonya Hughes (Balbriggan, Ireland) helped lead Ireland to a 9-0 victory in Malta on October 22 during a break in the Ravens schedule. Hislop was credited with goals in the 62nd and 89th minute after entering the match in the 58th minute.
Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 2 in the final NSCAA/adidas Division II poll, earned its 12th NCAA Tournament appearance and advanced to a record 12th-consecutive Final Four, reaching the National Championship match for a record sixth time before falling to Kennesaw State (Ga.) University, 2-0. The Ravens finished with a 22-3 record overall, claimed their third-straight Northeast-10 regular season title with a 13-1 mark and fourth-straight Conference Tournament Championship before capturing an eighth-straight NCAA New England Region crown.