Sept. 26, 2016
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For her second collegiate goal, junior center back, Cristina De Zeeuw was named the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Week.
With Hannon Eberts earning Freshman of the Week accolades last week, the Commodores have taken two of the three weekly awards in a two-week span.
This is the first time this season that a Vanderbilt student-athlete has taken home the conference’s defensive player award.
Following a corner kick taken by senior Lydia Simmons, the Overland Park, Kan. native generated the Commodores’ third goal against LSU. Surrounded by Tiger defenders, De Zeeuw received Simmons’ serve, turned and headed the ball through the LSU defense for her second career goal.
Starting all 11 games this season, the junior has helped carry the Commodore defense. The VU backline has only allowed one goal in the last three games for a total of 284 minutes. This past weekend, VU defeated No. 14 Texas A&M 2-0 and LSU 3-0. Coming off back-to-back shutouts, the ‘Dores head into Friday’s contest against Tennessee on a three-match winning steak.
Vanderbilt enjoys one game this weekend, as the squad heads east to face in-state rival Tennessee. VU takes on the Volunteers at 6:00 pm CT on Friday, September 30th on SEC Network+.