Part one of a three-part preview of the 2016 Carson-Newman women's soccer team will highlight the squad's defenders and goalkeepers, a group that didn't lose a single player to graduation, but did add to its depth. Senior fullback Elissa Lane was kind enough to take some time to talk about these two positions.
The returners include three players who have been honored on the South Atlantic Conference's postseason teams and one of the league's best young goaltenders.
In net, the Eagles will have sophomore Jessica Fraiture(Hebron, KY), who started every game in her first season of collegiate competition. Fraiture finished the season with a 0.86 goals against average, good enough for third in the SAC. She also set school records by recording 19 wins and five straight shutouts. She finished the year with a conference best 10 clean sheets to her credit, 65 saves and a 77.4 save percentage.
"She's awesome," Lane said. "She's definitely someone we trust back there."
There are two new additions to the group of goalkeepers in freshmen Jasmine Rizk(Anderson, TN) and Jacqueline Burns(Cookstown, Northern Ireland). Rizk arrives from Oak Ridge High School in Andersonville, Tennessee. While there, she helped lead her team to consecutive district titles in 2012 and 2013 while racking up 38 career shutouts.
On defense, the squad is led by two talented center backs in senior Megan Peterson(Parrish, FL) and junior Helen Seed(Preston, England). Peterson tallied eight points last season with three goals and two assists and that, as well as her stellar defending, earned her a spot on the All-SAC second team. Seed is just one year removed from a 2014 campaign that saw her garner first team All-SAC honors.
Lane(Knoxville, TN), who was honorable mention All-SAC in 2015, figures to occupy the spot of right back. Last season, she played in every game and totaled five assists, which tied for second, both in the conference and on the team. One of those assists was on C-N's game-winning goal against Newberry on 9/19 and two of them came in postseason play.
"The connection between [Peterson, Seed and myself] is great since we've been together for a few years now," Lane said. "We communicate well, we move the ball well back there. It's nice to have that kind of chemistry."
On the left side, sophomore Averi Williams(Powell, TN) is coming off a year in which she posted a stat line of a goal and three assists. Williams' goal came on 10/27 against Tusculum and she also added an assist in a 4-2 Eagles win.
There also will be no shortage of quality depth on the back line, led by sophomore Alex Brandan(Knoxville, TN), who played in 18 games, starting 17, and totaled 2 goals and an assist.
"Alex and Averi have done a great job already," Lane said, "but they've got a lot of potential as well. They are going to continue to get better."
This group also includes senior Nora Logan(Charlotte, NC), who played in 12 games with a pair of starts, sophomore Ashley Hickman(Knoxville, TN) and freshmen Lara Hallgrimsdottir(Kopavogur, Iceland), and Julia Hellstroem(Umeaa, Sweden).
The second piece in this three part preview will focus on the Eagles midfielders.
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