Notre Dame's Henderson Dubbed Nation's Top Women's Soccer Player

The Honda Sports Award for the nation's top women's soccer player was given to Notre Dame Junior Melissa Henderson.

On Tuesday the announcement was made after balloting from roughly the 1,000 NCAA member schools.

She also was named the best offensive player in this year's College Cup as she helped the Irish claim their third national championship in school history. In fact, she assisted on the game-winning goal in the championship game, a 1-0 victory over heavily favored Stanford.

Cindy Daws, a 1997 winner of the Honda Sports Award, is the only other Irish soccer player to win the coveted award.

Congratulations to Melissa on her accomplishment!

Notre Dame Women's Soccer 2010 National Champions

Once again it is time to light the #1 sign atop Grace Hall on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. This past Sunday the #7/10 Irish Women's Soccer team defeated #1/1 Stanford 1-0 for its third national championship in program history.

The Irish have won women's soccer championships in 1995, 2004 and now 2010.

Congratulations are in order for the entire program with a special shout out to Head Coach Randy Waldrum who was extra proud of his team's accomplishment.

Please have the courage to write that this is the best team in the country, not that this was an upset. I know everybody had preordained Stanford as the national champion this year. But I would make the argument that once the NCAA tournament started, the path we took and the way we won games ... we clearly were the best team in the country.

During the six tournament game wins the Irish outscored their opponents 15-1, including handing #3/4 North Carolina its worst loss in more than 30 years (4-1).

Notre Dame had lost its previous two championship game matches in 2006 and 2008.

Freshman Adrianna Leon scored the game's only goal as the Irish knocked off the Cardinal, which lost the NCAA championship game for the second year in a row.

Football in National Title Game

AP Photo/ Sara D. Davis

European football that is. Today at noon EST on ESPN2 and ESPN3 the Notre Dame Women's soccer team takes on the Stanford Cardinal in the Division 1 National Championship game.

Hey, you've got to start somewhere, right? While I have showed incredible restraint in delaying my post on the USC victory, I could not pass up this opportunity to light the #1 sign atop Grace Hall.

Go Irish!