View source for Shannon Higgins-Cirovski

{{short description|American soccer player}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name           = Shannon Higgins-Cirovski
| image          = 
| fullname       = Shannon Danise Higgins-Cirovski
| birth_name     = Shannon Danise Higgins<ref>{{cite web |url=https://unc_ftp.sidearmsports.com/custompages/old_site/mediaguides/w-soccer/01history.pdf |title=2001 North Carolina women's soccer media guide |publisher=[[North Carolina Tar Heels]] |page=63 |year=2001 |access-date=August 4, 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804004657/https://unc_ftp.sidearmsports.com/custompages/old_site/mediaguides/w-soccer/01history.pdf |archive-date=August 4, 2022}}</ref>
| birth_date     = {{birth date and age|1968|2|20}}
| birth_place    = [[Kent, Washington]], U.S.
| height         = {{height|ft=5|in=10}}
| position       = [[Midfielder]]
| collegeyears1  = 1986–1989
| college1       = [[North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer|North Carolina Tar Heels]]
| collegecaps1   = 
| collegegoals1  = 
| years1         = 
| clubs1         = 
| caps1          = 
| goals1         = 
| nationalyears1 = 1987–1991
| nationalteam1  = [[United States women's national soccer team|United States]]
| nationalcaps1  = 51
| nationalgoals1 = 4
| manageryears1  = 1990
| managerclubs1  = [[George Washington Colonials]] (assistant)
| manageryears2  = 1991–1997
| managerclubs2  = [[George Washington Colonials]]
| manageryears3  = 1998
| managerclubs3  = [[United States women's national under-18 soccer team|United States U18]]
| manageryears4  = 1999–2006
| managerclubs4  = [[Maryland Terrapins]]
}}
'''Shannon Danise Higgins-Cirovski''' ({{nee|'''Higgins'''}}; born February 20, 1968) is an American former [[Association football|soccer]] [[midfielder]] who earned 51 [[cap (sports)|caps]] with the [[United States women's national soccer team|United States]] between 1987 and 1991.  She was a member of the U.S. team at the [[1991 FIFA Women's World Cup]] and is a member of the [[National Soccer Hall of Fame]].

==Early life and college==
Higgins grew up in [[Kent, Washington]], where she attended [[Mount Rainier High School]].  She graduated from high school in 1986 and entered the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] that fall, playing on the women's soccer team from 1986 to 1989.  During those four seasons, UNC-Chapel Hill won four consecutive [[NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship|NCAA Championships]].  Higgins scored the game-winning goal in the last three championship games.  She was a two-time first team All American (1988 and 1989) and the recipient of numerous awards including the 1988 and 1989 [[Soccer America Player of the Year Award|''Soccer America'' Player of the Year]], 1989 [[ISAA Player of the Year]] and the 1989 [[Hermann Trophy]].  She won the [[Honda Sports Award]] as the nations's top soccer player at the end of the 1989–90 season.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://umterps.com/news/2000/1/10/207285313.aspx|title=Higgins-Cirovski Named To Soccer America Women's College Team Of Century|website=University of Maryland Athletics|date=January 10, 2000 |language=en|access-date=March 19, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.collegiatewomensportsawards.com/archives/soccer|title=Soccer|website=CWSA|language=en|access-date=April 16, 2020}}</ref> In 2000, she was named to the [[Soccer America College Team of the Century]].  Higgins graduated from UNC in 1990 with a [[bachelor's degree]] in industrial relations.

==National team==
Higgins earned fifty-one [[cap (sports)|caps]] with the [[United States women's national soccer team|United States]] between 1987 and 1991.  Her greatest achievement came in the [[1991 FIFA Women's World Cup]] when her playmaking skills were a central part of the U.S.'s championship run.  In the 2–1 final, Higgins assisted on both of [[Michelle Akers]] goals.

==Coach==
Following her graduation from UNC in 1990, Higgins-Cirovski was hired as an assistant coach to the [[George Washington University]] women's soccer team.  In 1992, she was elevated to the position of head coach, taking the team to a 69–59–11 record before resigning in 1997.  She was inducted into the university's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.<ref>[http://gwsports.cstv.com/genrel/022503aaa.html Seven Colonials Inducted into GW Athletic Hall of Fame]</ref> In 1998, Higgins-Cirovski served as the head coach of the U.S. U-18 women's national team.  On January 13, 1999, she was hired as the [[University of Maryland, College Park]] women's soccer team, a position she held until resigning in 2006.  She had a 62–51–10 (.549) record over her six seasons.  Her husband, [[Sasho Cirovski]], coaches the school's men's soccer team.

==Broadcaster==
In 2001, Higgins-Cirovski was a color commentator for the television broadcasts of the [[Washington Freedom (soccer)|Washington Freedom]] of the [[Women's United Soccer Association|WUSA]].

She was inducted into the [[National Soccer Hall of Fame]] in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shannon Higgins-Cirovski - 2002 Inductee {{!}} National Soccer Hall of Fame |url=http://www.nationalsoccerhof.com/players/shannon-higgins-cirovski.html |access-date=December 19, 2023 |website=Shannon Higgins-Cirovski - 2002 Inductee {{!}} National Soccer Hall of Fame |language=en}}</ref>  That year, the [[Atlantic Coast Conference]] named her to its list of the Top 50 ACC Athletes in the first fifty years of the conference's existence.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.nationalsoccerhof.com/players/shannon-higgins-cirovski.html National Soccer Hall of Fame]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303172252/http://national.soccerhall.org/RNO%20-%20WATN/ShannonHiggins_WATN.htm Where Are They Now?]
* [https://archive.today/20130120053317/http://umterps.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/higgins-cirovski_shannon00.html University of Maryland]

{{SACTCW}}
{{M.A.C. Hermann Trophy Women's Recipients}}
{{Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Soccer Player of the Year navbox}}
{{ACC Athlete of the Year navbox}}
{{National Soccer Hall of Fame members}}
{{United States Squad 1991 Women's World Cup}}
{{George Washington Revolutionaries women's soccer coach navbox}}
{{Maryland Terrapins women's soccer coach navbox}}
{{Honda Sports Award}}
{{Soccer America Women's Player of the Year navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins-Cirovski, Shannon}}
[[Category:1968 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:United States women's international soccer players]]
[[Category:North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer players]]
[[Category:American women's soccer coaches]]
[[Category:George Washington Revolutionaries women's soccer coaches]]
[[Category:Maryland Terrapins women's soccer coaches]]
[[Category:1991 FIFA Women's World Cup players]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Kent, Washington]]
[[Category:Soccer players from King County, Washington]]
[[Category:FIFA Women's World Cup–winning players]]
[[Category:American women's soccer players]]
[[Category:National Soccer Hall of Fame members]]
[[Category:Women's association football midfielders]]
[[Category:Hermann Trophy women's winners]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportswomen]]