Vanderbilt Soccer's Hoplins Names SEC Player of the Week

Vanderbilt forward Haley Hopkins is this week's SEC Player of the Week.

Author:
STAFF
Publish date:
Oct 28, 2020 11:55 AM EDT

CONFERENCE NOTES

SEC Offensive Player of the Week – Vanderbilt forward Haley Hopkins, a junior from Newport Beach, Calif., netted her 13th career game-winning goal in the 88th minute against No. 15 Georgia. Hopkins, playing through a lower-body injury suffered two weeks ago, played 54 minutes off the bench but made an immediate difference each time she entered the game, finishing with a team-high three shots with two of Vanderbilt’s six on target.

· SEC Defensive Player of the Week – South Carolina defender Sutton Jones, a junior from Fort Mill, S.C., scored a brace in the win over Florida. It is the first brace by a Gamecock defender since Taylor Leach in 2014 against East Carolina. She doubled her career goal total with her two goals against Florida, helping the Gamecocks defeat the Gators for the fifth-straight time at Stone Stadium dating back to 2012. Both of her goals came off headers served from corner kicks.

· SEC Freshman of the Week – Texas A&M forward Lauren Geczik, a freshman from Houston, Texas, recorded the first two goals of her career in just 36 minutes of play at Tennessee. With the match deadlocked at 0-0, she entered the match in the 25th minute and scored in her first 2:14 on the pitch. Geczik added her second goal in the 39th minute to give the Aggies the 2-0 lead at the intermission.

· Five SEC teams are ranked in the October 27 United Soccer Coaches poll: Arkansas 7th, Texas A&M 8th, South Carolina 9th, Georgia 14th and Auburn 15th.

· South Carolina’s Shelley Smith became the 27th head coach at the NCAA Division I level to win 300 matches in her career on Oct. 25. She is the fourth active SEC coach with 300 or more wins, joining Florida’s Becky Burleigh (508), Texas A&M’s G Guerrieri (476), and Auburn’s Karen Hoppa (310). Additionally, Missouri’s Bryan Blitz (294) is approaching the milestone.

· Thirteen SEC teams earned United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Awards by posting a team GPA of 3.0 or higher during the 2019-20 academic year.

· The 2020 SEC soccer season will consist of an eight-match, Conference-only regular season over eight weeks of competition beginning September 18, followed by the SEC Championship, November 13-22, in Orange Beach, Alabama. All 14 schools will compete in the SEC Championship.

· Arkansas was predicted to win to the 2020 SEC soccer title in voting by the league’s 14 head coaches. South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Florida rounded out the top five.

· Twenty players (out of 35 possible) that earned All-SEC honors last year return for the 2020 campaign. Included in that group is Midfielder of the Year Jimena Lopez (AM) and Co-Defensive Player of the Year Haley VanFossen (AR) and first team selections Kayla Bruster (UG), Channing Foster (UM), Parker Goins (AR), Taylor Malham (AR), Anna Podojil (AR), Reyna Reyes (UA) and Parker Roberts (UF).

· Fifty-nine players were named to the Preseason SEC Watch List. A complete listing of the players is available on page two of this release.

#9 Texas A&M 3, at Tennessee 1

Alabama 3, at LSU 3 (2OT)

Kentucky 1, at #14 Auburn 1 (2OT)

Missouri 1, at Mississippi State 1 (2OT)

at #12 South Carolina 4, Florida 2

#7 Arkansas 2, at Ole Miss 1

at Vanderbilt 1, #15 Georgia 0

Tennessee at Florida SECN+ 6:00 p.m.

Mississippi State at #9 South Carolina SECN+ 7:00 p.m.

#15 Auburn at #7 Arkansas SECN+ 7:30 p.m.

#8 Texas A&M at Alabama SECN+ 8:00 p.m.