Melissa Henderson

Classroom

Henderson currently is enrolled in Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters, where she is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in psychology. She also has begun work towards a career in sports broadcasting, having spent the summer of 2011 as an intern in the sports department at WSBT-TV, the CBS affiliate in South Bend, Ind. As part of that internship, she was responsible for shooting and editing video to air on nightly sportscasts, as well as writing scripts, assisting with the production of feature packages and sharpening her on-air interviewing skills.

Character

The consummate leader and competitor, Henderson was voted by her Notre Dame teammates as one of three team captains for the 2011 season. In her first three seasons with the Fighting Irish, she has yet to receive so much as a yellow card (caution). She remains widely respected by her peers and coaches in the soccer community (both in college and during her time with the USA U-20 and U-23 teams) for her sportsmanship and discipline on the pitch, as well as her supportive and caring nature as a teammate in the locker room.

Community

Henderson has been a prominent contributor to the community service efforts of the Notre Dame women’s soccer program, which has averaged better than 25 hours of service per player during the course of her three-year tenure (to date) with the Fighting Irish. She has taken part in the annual Notre Dame Athletics Pediatric Christmas Party (a holiday celebration for children fighting illness in area hospitals). Along the same lines, she and several of her teammates have adopted the role of “big sisters”  for Tatum Gumpf, a 5-year-old South Bend girl who was diagnosed in the summer of 2010 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. As such, Henderson and her teammates have helped serve as an added support system for Tatum and her family while she undergoes treatment for this disease. Another area Henderson has contributed to has been her team’s fund-raising campaign through “She’s The First”, a non-profilt organization dedicated to sponsoring girls’ education in the developing world. The Notre Dame women’s soccer team raised nearly $1,000 through sales of special “tie-dyed” cupcakes in order to help sponsor the continuing education of three young girls at the Kopila Valley Children’s Home and Primary School in Surkhet, Nepal. Henderson also has participated in the Irish Soccer Hispanic Heritage Clinic (an event designed to blend and embrace the sport of soccer with the South Bend Hispanic community), along with Notre Dame’s Christmas in April project (rehabilitating homes for low-income homeowners, particularly the elderly and disabled), and an athletics department drive to collect supplies for the victims of tornadoes in Alabama and Missouri in the spring of 2011.

Competition

Henderson has been the nation’s most electric offensive threat throughout her career, piling up 52 goals (11th in school history) and 18 assists for 122 points (15th in school history) in her 76-match career (through 2010). Her 20 career match-winning goals also are second in program annals. In 2010, Henderson became just the second Notre Dame player to earn the Honda Sports Award (given annually to the nation’s top women’s soccer player), in addition to being the first runner-up for the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy (likewise going to the nation’s top player, and equivalent to football’s Heisman Trophy). Henderson also was one of five nominees for the 2011 ESPY Award for “Best Female College Athlete”, and she was the only women’s soccer player (college, professional, international or domestic) to be nominated for an ESPY in any of the awards’ 18 individual athlete categories. Henderson is a two-time All-American (by both the NSCAA and Soccer America), as well as a 2008 SA Freshman All-American, a three-time NSCAA all-region selection, and has taken home two of the BIG EAST Conference’s most prominent individual awards as the league’s 2010 Offensive Player of the Year and its 2008 Rookie of the Year (she is a three-time all-BIG EAST pick as well).

Last season, she scored 17 goals and dished out a career-high 11 assists en route to a career-high 45 points while leading Notre Dame to its third NCAA national championship. The Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the NCAA Women’s College Cup, Henderson ranked at or near the top of the BIG EAST in every major offensive category, including those already named, plus game-winning goals (first - 6), which also ranks eighth in school history. Her 16 game-winning points (6G-4A) in 2010, capped by her assist on freshman forward Adriana Leon’s decisive 63rd-minute goal in the NCAA national championship match (a 1-0 win over top-ranked and previously-unbeaten Stanford), are tied for ninth-most on the Fighting Irish single-season charts.