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Anabel Hering '00 Inducted into Bullis Athletics Hall of Fame

Anabel Hering '00 Inducted into Bullis Athletics Hall of Fame
Anabel Jimenez '00 Bullis Soccer

On October 28, 2023, Anabel (Jimenez) Hering '00 was inducted into the Bullis Athletics Hall of Fame, recognizing her outstanding achievements and contributions to soccer both during her high school years and beyond.

Anabel is a native of the Washington, D.C., area and played four years of Varsity soccer as a top-scoring forward at Bullis School, where she was named All-Met. Outside of Bullis, Anabel played club soccer for the Bethesda Soccer Club, winning seven state titles and placing 2nd in Nationals in 1998. She also played for the Free State United for two years and was a member of the Olympic Development Program for seven years, selected to Regionals each year.

Anabel's talent and hard work paid off as she was recruited to play Division 1 soccer at American University (AU). She was a four-year starter and two-year captain during her four seasons at American. She was integral to projecting the American Eagles into the Patriot League Tournament for three years in a row, 2001-2003.

In 2002 and 2003, she was named All-Patriot League and awarded AU Women's Soccer team MVP in both seasons. To date, Anabel is the only AU women's soccer player to be honored as Patriot League Tournament MVP after leading the Eagles to its only Patriot League Championship title in its program history in 2002. She also led the AU team to the first and only NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, with a 1-0 loss to the University of Maryland in the first round.

Anabel Jimenez Hering '00

Anabel's impressive stats and leadership skills were recognized as she was elected All-Patriot League First Team and Patriot League Academic Honor Roll during her soccer career at AU. She holds 2nd in career points, competing in Patriot League player stat history with 64 career points, highlighting her top position ranking in career goals and assists. She is also the only Patriot League player in the history of AU to be recognized, ranking towards the top in both career goals and assists in the record books.

Along with her impressive stats, Anabel led the AU Eagles to the highest record rank in program history in 2003 with a .767 conference winning percentage, followed by the second-highest rank in the fewest conference losses in the same year. 2003 was also the only time in program history that AU was the number 1 seed and hosted the Patriot League Tournament at AU Reeves Field. Under her leadership, the 2003 team still holds the record for the most Patriot League wins in a single season.

After graduating from AU, Hering pursued her dream of playing professional soccer. Unfortunately, the women's professional league in the U.S. had folded, so in 2006, she went overseas to play professionally for the VFL-Wolfsburg in Germany. She was integral in leading the team to its promotion back into the Bundesliga 1st League. After Germany, Anabel returned to the U.S. to play for the former pro team, the Washington Freedom (now Washington Spirit), through 2008. Opportunity took her to Chicago to play in the semi-pro season before continuing her professional career with the Bay Area Breeze of the Women's Premier Soccer League in San Francisco, California. Additionally, she played for other local semi-pro teams while the professional league wavered and folded, some of which were the Northern Virginia Majestics, Maryland Capitols, and Maryland Pride.

Anabel's passion for soccer led her into college Division 1 coaching. She began her college coaching career as an assistant coach at George Mason University Women's Soccer in January 2007. With a couple of years under her belt, Anabel returned to her Alma Mater, American University, as the women's soccer assistant coach. She served five years as an assistant before moving into the head coaching position for seven additional years. In Hering's first season as head coach at AU, she led the Eagles to the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals for the second straight season. During her coaching tenure at AU, she helped lead the team twice to the Patriot League tournament playoffs. Towards the end of her coaching tenure, she led the team to a record number of the fewest losses, fewest goals allowed, and longest unbeaten streak in the program's history in 2018.

Today, Anabel is involved in residential real estate in the DMV, where she is bringing her competitive edge as a former pro athlete and coach to succeed in the real estate market and her own interior design business.

Anabel's extraordinary achievements in soccer, both on and off the field, have been recognized with her induction into the Bullis Athletics Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Anabel on this well-deserved honor.