Ebner secures Defensive Player of the Week honors
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Following a phenomenal start to the SAC season, sophomore goalkeeper Lilly Ebner (Hohentengen, Germany) has been named South Atlantic Conference AstroTurf Women's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Following a phenomenal start to the SAC season, sophomore goalkeeper Lilly Ebner (Hohentengen, Germany) has been named South Atlantic Conference AstroTurf Women's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week, as announced by the league Tuesday morning.
The last C-N player to be honored overall was graduate forward Emilee Futrell (Wilson, N.C.) during the spring season after her outstanding efforts against the Tusculum Pioneers. More specifically, this is the first SAC Defensive Player of the Week honors for C-N since goalkeeper Jasmine Rizk received the honor back in October 2019.
This is the first such honor for Ebner as she is in her second season between the posts for head coach Simon Duffy and his staff. The Germany native compiled a 3-3 record in her debut season in the spring. Throughout the spring season, she allowed only seven goals to go along with 28 saves in just under 474 minutes of action.
So far this season, Ebner has been in net for all six contests and has replicated her success of last season for her team. Most notably, the sophomore shut down two straight SAC opponents to start conference play in 2021 and be able to receive the honor and title of Defensive Player of the Week.
In the first half of Saturday's match, the Eagles were outshot 17-1 by Wingate, but as head coach Simon Duffy said afterwards, "we told our team at halftime that we needed to help Lilly out as she was keeping us in the match." While facing the 17 total attempts, Ebner compiled six saves in the first half as the teams went to the break with nothing to show for on the board. In the second 45 minutes of action, the Bulldogs tacked on eight more shot attempts, forcing Ebner to make a pair of saves in the period.
Last Wednesday, it was Ebner standing strong in net for the Eagles as they kickstarted SAC play for the 2021 season against the Mars Hill Lions. The Eagles defense stopped any chance for a Mars Hill attack for almost the entirety of the contest, as they held the Lions to only two shot attempts all match. The first half saw C-N hold Mars Hill shotless, marking the first time the Eagles had done so since last April while on the road in Mars Hill.
The Eagles did not allow a single shot attempt until the 80th minute and only saw one more attempt in the final 10 minutes which helped Ebner keep a clean sheet in the 2-0 victory as she was not forced to make any saves as neither attempt for Mars Hill came her way.
On the season, Ebner has allowed seven goals in six matches while collecting 19 saves including the seven against Wingate. She is tied for first in the SAC with two conference wins on the year as well as being first for total shutouts with her efforts against Wingate and Mars Hill.
Ebner and the Eagles are preparing to get back into SAC action for the 2021 season as they welcome the reigning SAC Offensive Player of the Week, Sydney Jimmo, and the Catawba College Catawba Indians on Saturday, Sept. 25, for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff from McCown Field.
Fans can watch the action at cneagles.com/live and follow live-in game updates for the Eagles via Twitter from @CN_Eagles.
2021 SAC AstroTurf Women's Soccer Players of the Week
Offensive Player of the Week
Sept. 7 – Hannah Dunn, Catawba
Sept. 14 – Rachel Taylor, Lincoln Memorial
Sept. 21 – Sydney Jimmo, Catawba
Defensive Player of the Week
Sept. 7 – Camryn Miller, Mars Hill
Sept. 14 – Grayson Cameron, Lenoir-Rhyne
Sept. 21 – Lilly Ebner, Carson-Newman
