In a year when the Cerritos College women's soccer team repeated as the NSCAA National Champions and CCCAA State Champions, it has been announced at the team has swept both national awards. First, it was head coach Ruben Gonzalez, who was named the National Coach of the Year for the second season in a row. And now, sophomore midfielder Claudia Lopez (Downey HS) has just been named the National Player of the Year among Division III (non-scholarship) schools.

"This is a really great honor that I didn't expect," said Lopez, who is considering several colleges that she's interested in transferring. "We had a great team and none of this would have been possible without their hard work everyday in practice and in the games."

On the year, Lopez led the Falcons with 27 goals, including two in the state championship game, and 16 assists. Her 70 points are the third most in school history behind Monique Cisneros, who had 82 in 2008 and Corina Villegas, who had 81 points in 2007. The 27 goals are the fourth most in a season Falcon history, while her 16 assists are tied for the seventh most. It was Villegas, in 2008, who became the first Cerritos player to be named the National Player of the Year.

"Last year Claudia struggled a little bit with injuries and was limited to 12 goals," said Gonzalez, who will travel to Philadelphia next month with his three All-American players to receive their national awards. "She has a drive in her that makes her very competitive and she has a strong desire to score. She showed it from the start of the season all the way to the championship game, when she scored twice. It was the same for Corina, who scored three times in the championship game the year she won the award."

Lopez is considering several colleges, including UC Irvine, Regis (CO) College, University of Texas-San Antonio, Louisiana Tech University, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State Los Angeles. She plans to major in either nursing or science and health.

Lopez opened the year by scoring five times in the team's two games in Florida and added another three goals in a win over Los Angeles Harbor College. She posted a pair of goals in six other games, and accounted for seven goals in five playoff games.