Kelley O’Hara, who joined the Pali Blues in June and immediately asserted herself as a leader in midfield, has been awarded college soccer’s highest honor for her recently completed senior year for the Stanford Cardinal. Last Friday’s Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy was an all Blues affair with UNC midfielder Tobin Heath and UCLA forward Lauren Cheney in attendance as the other two finalists. Since 2002 the “MAC” Hermann Trophy has been the single, unified award given to the top college player in the country as decided by Division I coaches. The award for O’Hara culminates a stellar year of soccer.

"It’s a great way to end the college season," O’Hara said. "I’m so thankful, and blessed. But the reason I was able to get the award was because of my teammates. I couldn’t have done it without them."

O’Hara, a native of Fayetteville, Ga., led Stanford (25-1) to its best record and to its first NCAA championship final, shattering school scoring records along the way and leading the nation in goals and points. O’Hara (26 goals, 13 assists, 65 points) had been nominated three times for the award, but had never been a finalist until this year, joining Julie Foudy (1991 and ’92) as the only finalists in Stanford history. O’Hara said she wasn’t nervous, and never felt as if she was destined to win.

"I’m sitting next to Tobin Heath and Lauren Cheney, and they both have Olympic gold medals," she said. "I had a good season, but I don’t know if I could have expected it."

Stanford and O’Hara had a fairy-tale season that included a Pac-10 title and a perfect record heading into the College Cup final, which ended with a disappointing 1-0 loss to North Carolina and a red card for O’Hara in her final collegiate match.

"This is a great honor," O’Hara said. "But I would give it up to win a national championship. That’s not to downplay the trophy. To be honored like this is incredible. I’m so excited."

A 2009 NSCAA first-team All-America, O’Hara was the Pacific-10 Conference’s Player of the Year and an ESPN The Magazine first-team Academic All-American.