June 15, 2011

Center Valley, Pa. - Two of the most accomplished female student-athletes in the Patriot League have received yet another distinction, as the League has nominated Army women’s basketball standout Erin Anthony and American field hockey star Christine Fingerhuth for the 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

The Patriot League's senior woman administrators chose Anthony and Fingerhuth as nominees due to their excellence in the four areas of importance for the NCAA Woman of the Year award: service, leadership, athletics and academics.

Anthony wrapped up her storied career at Army in 2011 with another fine season. She was a force in the paint, leading the Patriot League in scoring (14.4 ppg) and rebounding (10.9) to pick up First-Team All-League honors. The 6-foot-2 forward made her mark on the record books, finishing her collegiate career as Army's all-time leader in blocks with 222, good for third most in Patriot League history. She also ranks second in program history in rebounds (1,036) and fourth in scoring (1,429), and is one of only two players in Army's history to rack up 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds over a career. This season, Anthony was the 2010-2011 Army Athletic Association Award Winner, the highest athletic award given to a senior cadet who shows the most valuable service to college athletics during their career. She was also recognized as the Anaconda Patriot League Player of the Week on four separate occasions.

Anthony's excellence followed her into the classroom where she graduated with a 3.82 GPA while earning a civil engineering degree. Her personal accolades include being named Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year for each of the last three years, CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American the past two seasons and a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in 2011. At West Point, Anthony earned the Superintendent’s Award for Achievement, which is awarded to the top 15 percent of cadets. She was also selected to the International Scholar Laureate Program where she served on a 2010 delegation to China.

Anthony has volunteered for multiple years with Special Olympics and the American Cancer Society Relay for Life and held leadership positions at West Point including Battalion Executive Officer, Regimental Public Affairs Officer and both Academic and Platoon Sergeant.

Fingerhuth, American University’s field hockey captain, scored a team-high 17 goals for the Patriot League champion Eagles this season. A First-Team All-America selection in 2010, Fingerhuth also garnered Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year honors for the second straight season and was named First-Team All-Patriot League for the third year in a row. She was named the Patriot League Tournament MVP in both 2008 and 2010 as American won the League title in each of her four seasons. Fingerhuth also helped the Chilean National Team take home the Silver Medal at the Junior Pan American Games in 2008, where she won the Tournament MVP award. Fingerhuth has played for the Chilean Senior National Team for each of the past two years.

In the classroom, Fingerhuth was named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll for three consecutive years, and was picked twice for the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I Academic Squad. She earned a 3.36 GPA while majoring in Business Administration and adding a minor in German. She was named the American University Female Student-Athlete of the Year in 2010-11. As a whole, the American University field hockey team finished in the top three academically in Division I in each of Fingerhuth’s four seasons.

On top of her work on the field and in the classroom, she is a member of the International Hockey Federation Youth Panel and helped raise money for the Tikrit Medical Lab Project. Fingerhuth has worked on service projects including Foundacion San Jose and Un Techo Para Chile as well as on team community service initiatives.

The Woman of the Year selection committee will review all nominations and narrow down the field to 10 NCAA student-athletes from each of the three divisions. From there, the committee will select the top three in each division before determining the NCAA Woman of the Year. The committee will announce the winner at an October 16 dinner in Indianapolis, Ind., where the top 10 from each division will be recognized.