Starting the season with a list seems so passe …

Believe it or not, the college regular season gets underway in a little less than two weeks. And with Kelley O’Hara playing alongside Marta and Christine Sinclair for FC Gold Pride, someone in the college ranks has to step up and claim the Hermann Trophy. Here are my top five preseason picks, in alphabetical order.

Lauren Fowlkes, Senior, Notre Dame
Last season: 10 goals, 4 assists in 26 games
Notre Dame’s media guides are comprehensive beasts — drop one on your foot for confirmation. But last season’s capsule for Fowlkes looks a little understated in hindsight, adding as almost an afterthought to hr bio: “also has some offensive capabilities.” You think? Thrown up top midway through last season for a team that needed continuity next to Melissa Henderson, Fowlkes finished with 10 goals, including five goals in 11 Big East regular-season games and three more in the Big East tournament. And based on her prior work as part of the back line and in the midfield, it’s still not even remotely clear that forward is her best position. Henderson will get the goals and build her own Hermann resume, but you’ve got to be the best at something (or at least in the running) to win the hardware. And no player is a more complete package anywhere on the field than Fowlkes.

Sydney Leroux, Junior, UCLA
Last season: 23 goals, 2 assists in 24 games
It’s her show now in Westwood. With Lauren Cheney, Kara Lang, McCall Zerboni, Kristina Larsen, Christina DiMartino and just about everyone else responsible for the bulk of UCLA’s non-Leroux points over the last two seasons moved on, Leroux is the elder stateswoman of the Bruins attack, even if she’s only a junior. Assuming she doesn’t dwell on the disappointment of her missed penalty in a quarterfinal shootout loss against Nigeria in the Under-20 Women’s World Cup, she should be up to the challenge. It doesn’t hurt that the U-20 process gave her plenty of extra time to work with Zakiya Bywaters and highly-touted incoming freshman Jenna Richmond, all under the careful watch of United States and UCLA coach Jill Ellis. Leroux is probably the most recognizable name in the college game, and that and another 20-plus goals should eventually have her on the short list for the Hermann.

Tiffany McCarty, Junior, Florida State
Last season: 17 goals, 7 assists in 25 games
McCarty might end up being the best player in the nation, or she might end up being the third-best player on her own team. Frankly, with talent like Jessica Price, Amanda DaCosta, Casey Short and Toni Pressley around in Tallahassee, it could be a fine line that separates those two possibilities. So why McCarty? All she’s done since arriving is live up to the hype, earning ACC Freshman of the Year honors in 2008 and then scoring a team-high 17 goals as a sophomore. And this may be a season when the cream rises for the Seminoles. Rather than opening against Jacksonville and South Alabama, as they did last season, or loading up on stat-stuffing games against the likes of Francis Marion, Troy and North Florida, the Seminoles start off the season against Washington State and Gonzaga — in the Palouse, no less — and face three SEC teams and Central Florida before even getting to the ACC.

Christen Press, Senior, Stanford
Last season: 21 goals, 16 assists in 26 games
How many times has a school other than North Carolina had back-to-back Hermann winners who weren’t the same person? The same number of times Stanford won a national championship in women’s soccer. Christen Press may be the key to giving the Cardinal another shot at doing the latter, if she can put together a season worthy of changing the former. Overshadowed by Kelley O’Hara, to the extent a player who totals 21 goals and 16 assists and shared player-of-the-year honors from Top Drawer Soccer can be overshadowed, Press gets her shot at the spotlight. She won’t be alone, with Lindsay Taylor, Teresa Noyola, Courtney Verloo and Mariah Nogueira among the attacking players still around in Palo Alto, meaning another 50-point season is within reach for one of college soccer’s fastest strikers.


Sophie Schmidt, Senior, Portland
Last season: 12 goals, 12 assists in 22 games
Who gets the nod as Portland’s strongest Hermann candidate? Let’s see, all Danielle Foxhoven did last season was score 25 goals for the Pilots, production that ranked her second nationally in goals per game and first nationally in points per game, courtesy of 12 assists. Yet Foxhoven took a backseat as a sophomore to teammate Michelle Enyeart in the Hermann race, and as good as Foxhoven was, that is still hard to argue — Enyeart was that kind of good in imposing her will on all comers. Will history repeat itself? Foxhoven has to rank as one of the best pure finishers in the college game right now (she also led the Pilots with 16 goal as a freshman), but tactically speaking, she’s the ace fighter pilot. Occupying central midfield for a team with so many attacking options all over the pitch, Schmidt is the aircraft carrier.