Jan. 5, 2006

Portland, OR - University of Portland senior striker Christine Sinclair inched closer to being the consensus national player of the year by taking the top honor from Soccer Times. Freshman midfielder Megan Rapinoe was named the Soccer Times Freshman of the Year and Portland skipper Garrett Smith took coach of the year honors after leading the Pilots to their second NCAA Championship in the last four years.

Sinclair was joined on the All-America first team by senior midfielder Lindsey Huie and sophomore defender Stephanie Lopez. Rapinoe and sophomore midfielder Angie Woznuk were second team honorees, while junior goalkeeper Cori Alexander earned a third-team nod.

Portland's three first-team picks tied Penn State for the most of any school, while its six total selections topped the charts.

Sinclair broke the NCAA single-season goals scored record with 39 tallies in 2005 and finished her career second in NCAA history with 110 goals. She is looking to become just the third player in women's soccer history to claim consecutive Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy honors as the announcement of the winner will be made on Friday, Jan. 6 in St. Louis.

Rapinoe wowed teammates, fans and opponents all season with her clever play and finished with 15 goals and 13 assists. She erupted for six goals and four assists during Portland's postseason run.

Smith has quietly accumulated a 61-7-4 (.875) career record in three seasons at the helm. He led the Pilots to a 23-0-2 mark in 2005 as Portland joined North Carolina as the only programs to ever finish an unbeaten season with a national title.

Soccer Times All-America voting was done by a contingent of 16 Division I head coaches and compiled by soccertimes.com managing editor Gary Davidson.