ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the second time this season, Carson-Newman goalkeeper Bram Kaarsgaren has been named the South Atlantic Conference's Defensive Player of the Week, as announced by the league off on Wednesday morning.
The Den Bosch, the Netherlands native receives this laurel for his performance in a 3-0 clean sheet over Tusculum this past Friday at McCown Field. He grabbed four saves in the victory for what was his fourth victory of the season and the third-straight shutout of the year at that point. His final save in that match came on a one-on-one faceoff with Jean-Pierre Vital in the 70th minute.
That win against the Pioneers moved Kaarsgaren to 7-3-1 when playing inside the friendly confines of McCown Field in his career with three home clean sheets.
4️⃣ saves
— Carson-Newman Athletics (@CNathletics) March 31, 2021
�� another shutout@CNmenssoccer keeper @bramkaarsgaren grabs his second @SAC_Athletics Defensive Player of the Week honor pic.twitter.com/l83zxxRbks
His efforts in net set Carson-Newman nearly halfway into its longest run of shutout victories in a single season since the 2017 campaign when it pieced together seven-consecutive.
Kaarsgaren is now the most decorated keeper in C-N history when it comes to SAC weekly honors with four Player of the Week nods in his career. He became the first netminder in team history to receive the accolades twice in one season during his debut campaign in 2019.
In the midst of the final week of the regular season with one match left to be played, the junior is currently in a position to land the best goals against average for a single season in team history and is a shutout away from tying for the seventh-most in an individual season with six.
On the career side, he has a chance of being in the top-five for save percentage, goals against average and shutouts. He is currently saving at a .807 clip through two seasons with the Eagles, holding a 0.88 goals against average and 9.1 shutouts.
Carson-Newman heads to Mars Hill on Thursday night to wrap up the regular season. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. from the Ammons Family Athletic Center and Meares Stadium.
