The Women's Sports Foundation has named Valerie Halesworth, a field hockey, girls' basketball and junior varsity softball coach at Oyster Bay High School, a finalist in the team sport category for the 2002 Sportswoman of the Year Award.

"More than 40 nominations were submitted by various sport organizations and Ms. Halesworth's achievements over the past 12 months have been recognized as exceptional," said Donna Lopiano, executive director of the Foundation. Among previous winners are Mia Hamm, Lisa Leslie, Jenny Thompson, Venus Williams and Serena Williams. The winner will be announced at the Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Dinner on Oct. 21 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

As a quarterback for the New York Sharks, Ms. Halesworth was named Most Valuable Player at the 2002 Independent Women's Football League Super Bowl Championship, at the 1999 Orange Bowl All-Star Game, and at the 1999 Inaugural Game between the Sharks and Minnesota.

Val Halesworth is shown in the photograph, scoring the first TD in the IWFL Super Bowl in Ashland, Oregon. In the game, New York beat Austin 24-4. Her stats for the game were: 8 completions; 15 attempts; 115 yds and two TD's. Ms. Halesworth threw a TD, ran for a TD and intercepted two passes at Free Safety.

A graduate of Oyster Bay High School, she was selected for All-Long Island in basketball, the Daily News "Super 6" and the Empire State Games. She was awarded a full scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh for basketball.