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Perkins is Third VU SEC Player of the Week 9/26/2005 NASHVILLE — Vanderbilt junior defender Kim Perkins (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the week today, becoming the third Commodore to win an SEC Player of the Week award this season, joining junior defender Monica Buff (Lilburn, Ga.) and junior forward Lea Lafield (Dallas, Texas). Perkins helps anchor the Commodores’ (9-1-0; 2-0-0 SEC) defense, which has allowed only three goals all season and posted eight shutouts. In this weekend’s contest — a 5-0 victory over Arkansas and a 2-0 defeat of LSU — Perkins played all 180 minutes and made two key slide tackles in one series against the Lady Razorbacks on what appeared to be their best scoring chance of the game after she caught up with a long breakaway. While the three goals allowed is impressive for the defense, possible more impressive is how few opportunities to score it concedes. The Commodores backline has only allowed 62 shots, an average of 6.2 per game. Contrast that to the 24.3 that Perkins and her teammates fire each contest. More incredible still is the anemic 2.8 shots on goal allowed per game. That means that while Vanderbilt is getting around 10 good shots on goal per game, the team allows less than three making easy work for junior goalkeeper Tyler Griffin (Charlotte, N.C.), a First Team All-SEC selection this week and a Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week member three weeks ago. One of Perkins’ most amazing facets has been her consistency this season. She is one of five Commodores that have started all 10 games and she leads the team in minutes played with 873 — out of a possible 900. While she does not come forward on the attack with every play, she has managed to fire five shots, three on goal this season, and she is one of the best in the backfield and sending long, leading balls up to the attackers to make for a quick-striking counterattack. The No. 20 Commodores will try to extend their nine- game winning streak on Friday when they play Auburn in their SEC road-opener at the Auburn Soccer Complex at 7 p.m. |
