She latlg ular Hrd
Former Women's Soccer Star Slated for Hall of Fame
Shannon Higgins-Cirovski to Be Enshrined
By Kellie Dixon
Assistant Sports Editor
It was Aug. 31, 1986, and the North
Carolina women’s soccer team had just
tied Central Florida 1-1 in UNC’s second
match of the year. But not everyone was
satisfied with the Tar Heel’s performance.
UNC forward Shannon Higgins-
Cirovski considered it a personal let
down. The freshman was so disappointed
with her performance in the Aug. 31,
1986 match that she contemplated quit
ting the nationally renowned soccer team.
“I remember after my first college
game I thought, ‘Oh my gosh I made a
mistake. I’m not that good,’” she said.
It’s a good thing the 1990 UNC grad
uate didn’t follow her gut.
All it took was a little adjusting for the
Kent, Wash, native to start making a
name for herself.
With four NCAA Championship
titles as a player, multiple tournament
berths as a coach and numerous indi
vidual accolades in both categories,
Higgins-Cirovski is set to receive the
highest honor possible.
Higgins-Cirovski, currently the
women’s soccer coach for the Maryland
Terrapins, will be inducted into the
National Soccer Hall of Fame on Oct 14
in Oneonta, N. Y. At 34 years old, she
will be the youngest person ever elected
for induction.
“I knew for Shannon it was just a
matter of time,” said North Carolina
women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance.
Higgins-Cirovski played for Dorrance
for four years at UNC and on the 1991
FIFA World Cup Champion US.
national team. After the U.S.’ 2-1 win
over Norway in the championship game,
she retired as a player, notching four
goals in 51 international appearances.
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“She’s proven herself not only at the
collegiate level but also at the game’s
highest level,” Dorrance said. “It wasn’t
a question of if, it was a question of
when."
According to its Web site, the Hall
recognizes both players and builders for
their impacts on soccer. Higgins-
Cirovski will be inducted as a player,
but her most recent contributions to soc
cer have come from the sidelines.
From 1991 to 1997, she coached
George Washington’s women’s soccer
team, and in 1996 she led the Colonials to
their only NCAA
appearance in
school history.
Her decision to
coach came about
10 years ago when
the real world
beckoned. She was
determined to stick
with soccer.
“I retired from
playing because I
wanted to coach,”
she said. “I found
that I wasn’t doing
both well and I
wanted to focus on
my career. At the
—'v 1
UNC coach
Anson Dorrance
plans to present
Higgins-Cirovski
at the Oct. 14
inductions.
time I couldn’t make a living playing so
I thought perhaps I might be able to
make a living coaching.”
Dorrance said he thought Higgins-
Cirovski successfully melded her player
and coaching abilities as a player at UNC.
“She was basically a coach’s dream,”
he said. “She was tremendously coach
able and the other quality that she
would have is when she was out there it
was like having yourself out there.”
This was definitely a plus for Dorrance
because Higgins-Cirovski is hearing-
impaired in her left ear, something she
attributes to multiple hearing infections
as a child. This made communication
across the field nearly impossible.
But Higgins-Cirovski compensated.
“One of my best qualities was my
vision, and that was, I think, attributed a
little bit to my lack of hearing,” she said.
“You can’t talk to me over long dis
tances - I’m completely clueless.”
So the tele
phone game of
transferring infor
mation from play
er to player
became important,
on occasion. And
when it was used,
Higgins-Cirovski
said her team
mates sometimes
would tease her
“One of my best qualities was
my vision, and that was, I
think, attributed a little bit to
my lack of hearing. ”
Shannon Higgins-Cirovski
2002 Hal! of Fame Inductee
while relaying the material.
“They used to make fun of me,” she
said. “So they used to sign language at
me and stuff for fun. And I took it light
ly because I’m not deaf.”
Dorrance said communication was
never a real hassle because Higgins-
Cirovski was talented at translating
directions onto the field.
“She was so good that after her
sophomore year, we stopped coaching
her and she became a consultant,”
Dorrance said. “She elevated herself to
a level that doesn’t happen much in a
collegiate sport. She was basically a
coach that happened to be playing. We
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Sports
had so much respect for her we didn’t
tell her what to do, we asked her what
we should be doing.”
But Higgins-Cirovski says she learned
a thing or two from her college coach.
“If there’s any one person who has
had the biggest impact on my playing
career it would be Anson,” she said.
For this reason, she has asked him to
introduce her at the Hall of Fame induc-
tions.
She laughed as
she recalled the
same Central
Florida match
from 1986. The
Tar Heels tied in
regulation, but lost
after a round of
penalty kicks.
“I remember
walking into
Anson’s office - we lost in (penalty
kicks) and they called it a tie -and basi
cally asking him, ‘What are we going to
do?’” she said. “I hate losing, and I was
upset that other people on the team
weren’t as upset as I was."
Higgins-Cirovski said that as a coach
her mannerisms have changed in
regards to losing a game. She still has the
same take-charge attitude, just with dif
ferent emotions. “In the playing sense, I
probably worked harder or attempted to
work harder and tried to control the sit
uation in doing what I could to try and
win the game,” she said. “Now as a
coach I get pensive and upset.”
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But the shift in her qualities hasn’t
affected her thirst for success. Dorrance
says it’s her tactical mind that makes her
a threat as a coach in the ACC. Last sea
son the Terrapins finished 10-7-2 and
made an appearance in the first round
of the NCAA Tournament.
Higgins-Cirovski’s ties to soccer have
included even her immediate family.
While she coaches the women’s soccer
team at Maryland, her husband coach
es the men’s team.
In addition, Higgins-Cirovski’s oldest
children, ages six and eight, attend her
summer camps which she holds twice in
the off-season. But this past summer, the
children went alone while mom deliv
ered the newest addition to the Cirovski
household on July 15,2001.
Although her life is filled with on-the
field successes, she credits her family with
helping keep things together behind the
scenes. “There’s some real times when
there’s absolute chaos and we have to rely
on family. But we know it’s shortlived.”
The Sports Editor can be reached at
sports@unc.edu.
•/ 106 W. Franklin St.
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
Graduated: 1990 from UNC
Position: Head women's soccer
coach at the University of Maryland
for the past four years
Hometown: Kent, Washington
Induction: Oct. 14 at the National
Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta,
N.Y.
(Higgins is the youngest Hall of
Fame inductee at 34.)
SOURCE: http://WWWSOCCERHAU.ORG/INDEX.HTMI,
DTH/JOSHUA STALFORD
3B