ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Junior back Emily Mason has been named to the 2023 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, United Soccer Coaches announced on Thursday. The Hermann Trophy, presented annually by the Missouri Athletic Club, is the nation's highest individual honor recognizing the National Player of the Year as determined by the voting of Division I coaches who are members of United Soccer Coaches. Mason is one of 56 NCAA Women's Division I college soccer players named to the Watch List.

The latest preseason honor for Mason joins mentions on the United Soccer Coaches National Defenders to Watch and Top Drawer Soccer's Preseason Best XI Third Team. The Flemington, New Jersey native is also ranked No. 30 in Top Drawer Soccer's Top 100 Players.

A Third-Team All-American, All-Big Ten First Team, and All-North Region First Team selection as a sophomore in 2022, Mason turned in 14 matches with the full 90 minutes played, contributing to eight shutouts on the Scarlet Knight defense. The versatile, 5-foot-10 defender has also chipped in on the attack, scoring her first collegiate goal in a 7-0 win against Temple on Sept. 1 and then scoring her first collegiate brace in a 3-0 win at Purdue on Oct. 2. She also added an important assist in the 1-1 draw at then-No. 8 Northwestern on Sept. 29. Mason missed the first two contests of the season while serving with the United States Youth National Team at the U20 World Cup in Costa Rica. She previously won gold with the USYNT at the Concacaf Women's Championship and the Sud Ladies Cup in 2021.
 
Mason brings the program's total to 16 recognitions on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List over the years. Rutgers had Riley Tiernan in 2022 and three players on the watch list two seasons ago - seniors Amirah Ali, Gabby Provenzano, and Frankie Tagliaferri - with Provenzano and Tagliaferri named Hermann Trophy semifinalists in late November. The program has had a semifinalist for three straight seasons from 2019-21 and four out of the last six years, including Ali in 2020 and 2019, and Casey Murphy in 2015. Former Scarlet Knight standout Carli Lloyd was named a Hermann Trophy semifinalist in 2004.



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