Penn women’s soccer is starting off hot this season, and senior goalkeeper and captain Annabel Austen is leading the charge.
The Concord, Mass. native earned Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week after shutout performances in the net in matchups against Drexel and George Mason last week. In the draw with Drexel, Austen put five saves to her name, and in the latter game, Austen continued her perfect start to the season with two saves on both shots from the Dragons.
The honor marks Austen’s fourth time being awarded Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week in her career. She earned three last season for performances in Ivy play against Cornell, Dartmouth, and Princeton.
“I’m not surprised at all [at our performances],” Austen told The Daily Pennsylvanian. “We left last season with a lot to be desired and went into the winter, went into the spring, really focused on how we wanted to perform this fall and worked really hard every single day.”
Austen credited the team’s strong start to the depth of the team and coach Krissy Turner — who is in her fourth year at the helm of the program.
“We’ve been growing the last four years under our coach … and she’s been building this program up gradually, and I feel like we’re finally hitting that turning point where we have the culture we want, the talent we want, the players we want. It’s all coming together,” Austen added.
Turner has created a culture that strikes a balance between supportive family and competing to win.
“At the end of the day, she’s started to push ‘Yes, we’re a family, but we also want to win the Ivy League title’ and that’s the culture that we’ve been building up and working on. … I really appreciate [that she has] really let us direct how we want to grow and the culture we want to create,” Austen said.
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Penn women’s soccer currently has a 2-0-1 record and is set for its first season road trip to Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday. The Quakers will then return to the Keystone State to battle Lafayette on Sunday.
