Cramer Named Young Female Athlete of the Year

New York, 30 Jan. 2002 -- The U.S. Soccer Federation announced its 2001 Chevy Athlete of the Year awards at a press conference today in Pasadena, Calif.,

As it has done since 1998, U.S. Soccer and Chevy announced Young Male Athlete of the Year and Young Female Athlete of the Year awards, which went to U.S. national team and Under-20 MNT midfielder DaMarcus Beasley, of the Chicago Fire, and U.S. national team and Women's National Team midfielder Aleisha Cramer, a sophomore at BYU this year.

"We're honored to once again be involved with the Athlete of the Year awards," said Brian Body, Chevrolet brand promotional manager. "As we did last year, we'll present one Chevy Cavalier to each Adult Athlete winner and donate $1,000 to the U.S. Soccer foundation in the name of each Young Athlete winner. Chevrolet has a long history of being there; supporting aspiring athletes and our support of U.S. Soccer is one more example of this."

Displaying a presence in the midfield that is rare at her age, it's no wonder that the 19-year --old Cramer was second on the full U.S. Women's National Team in games with nine and third in minutes played. She was also an indispensable part of the U.S. Under-21 Women's National Team, helping the team win the prestigious Nordic Cup by providing two goals and two assists in a 6-1 thrashing of Sweden in the championship game. At BYU, the 5'11" sophomore led the team in scoring with nine goals and nine assists for 27 points and helped the Cougars to the NCAA tournament, for which she was named Mountain West Conference Player of the Year and 1st Team All-American.