Canada’s Kadeisha Buchanan up for MAC Hermann Trophy as top NCAA women’s player

KANASAS CITY, Mo. – The accolades keep coming for Canadian international centre back Kadeisha Buchanan.

The 20-year-old from Brampton, Ont., is one of three finalists for the Missouri Athletic Club’s (MAC) Hermann Trophy as NCAA women’s soccer player of the year.

Buchanan, a junior at West Virginia, is up against Penn State senior midfielder Raquel Rodriguez and Virginia senior defender Emily Sonnet.

The men’s finalists are Georgetown senior forward Brandon Allen, Creighton junior forward Fabian Herbers and Stanford senior forward Jordan Morris, a U.S. international.

The winners will be announced Jan. 8 at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis.

It’s been a banner year from Buchanan, who was one of 10 shortlisted for the 2015 Ballon d’Or, which honours the women’s player of the year. She also won the Hyundai Young Player Award at the Women’s World Cup in the summer and was the lone Canadian on the tournament all-star squad.

Buchanan is currently with the Canadian national team, in Brazil for a tournament.

NCAA Division I coaches who are NSCAA College Services members voted for their top MAC Hermann choices from the list of 15 men and 15 women named semifinalists in early December. Soccer fans could also vote.

The six semifinalists were the top vote-getters from the combined NSCAA coaches and weighted fan votes.