Sam Kerr keeps raking in the awards from her home country of Australia. Just three weeks after being named the young Australian of the Year award, the 24-year-old striker was crowned The West Australian-RAC Sports Star of the Year award.
The award is given to a West Australian, one of the six states in the country, who exemplifies their sport and represent the state with honor. It is the State’s “most prestigious individual sporting award.” Kerr beat out 11 other finalists to take home the honor.
NWSL MVP
Kerr, who was traded in the off-season to the Chicago Red Stars, is the NWSL’s all-time leading goal scorer with 43. She also set the record for most goals-scored in a single season with 17 in 2017 and received the golden boot and the NWSL MVP award for her play with Sky Blue FC.
Though Sky Blue missed the playoffs, Kerr led them peak as high as 2nd in the league. She also contributed to two comeback wins. The first coming July 8th against FC Kansas City where she scored a hat trick in 12 minutes to help her team win 3-2. Kerr also scored four goals in a single game in a comeback win against the Seattle Reign, helping her team win 5-4 and becoming the first player to score four goals in one game.
Australia Impact
Kerr returned to the Perth Glory for the 2017/2018 Australian W-League season. Although the Glory finished the 2016/2017 season as the runners-up, the team faltered a bit this year, finishing out of the playoffs in league’s 10th season. However, Kerr still managed to continue her impact. This season, she scored 13 goals and averaged a goal every 61.5 minutes. She also contributed three assists and had two hat tricks and two braces in nine games played.
Kerr also received the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Footballer of the Year and the PFA’s Women’s Player of the year. She also scored 11 goals in six games with Australia this year, recording a hat trick against Japan and braces against China (twice) and Brazil.