William & Mary Athletics

William & Mary women's soccer has been one of the nationally exceptional programs in the nearly 40-year history of NCAA women's soccer, and in all that time, only seven women have been named All-America three or more times.  Claire Zimmeck is the most recent of them, and the most decorated, winning All-American honors on a program-record seven teams over her final three years.



Zimmeck marked herself out as a special player from the very first, earning a spot on two National Teams of the Week as a freshman in 2005, and earning second-team All-CAA and all-state honors as well as spot on the CAA All-Rookie team.  Starting in 2006, however, she broke out in a big way while leading the Tribe to a program-record 17-match unbeaten streak.  Zimmeck earned second-team All-America honors from Top Drawer Soccer and fourth-team from Soccer Buzz, as well as first-team all-conference, all-state, and all-region.  She was named the National Player of the Week by three different organizations on Oct. 16, the first W&M player ever to win that award, and was named the CAA Player of the Year and State Player of the Year while spearheading the Tribe attack to a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Her junior year of 2007 was perhaps her finest, repeating as the CAA Player of the Year and earning first-team All-America honors from Top Drawer Soccer as well as third-team accolades from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and from Soccer Buzz.  She also was named the National Player of the Week on Oct. 22, and scored a career-high 17 goals, 10 of them game-winners, as W&M reached the NCAA second round.  Zimmeck's final year, 2008, saw another trip to the NCAA second round and first-team honors from the CAA, state, and region for the third year in a row.  She was a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy, the National Player of the Year award, for the second year in a row, and finished her career earning second-team All-America honors from the NSCAA and third-team from Soccer Buzz.  She still holds a share of W&M's career record with 25 game-winning goals, while also ranking third in program history with 57 career goals and fifth all-time with 126 career points.  Overall, Zimmeck's teams made three NCAA Tournaments and went 53-17-16 (.709), including a 33-6-5 (.807) record in conference games.
 
After graduation, Zimmeck was drafted in the ninth round of the Women's Professional Soccer League 2009 draft, and played professionally with teams in Washington and Boston.