With only one game to go, senior goalkeeper and captain Annabel Austen is not letting Penn women’s soccer’s season end in vain.
In the final season of her collegiate career, Austen has noticeably put in the work to finish with a flourish. In the last three games, Austen has saved 27 shots while only conceding five to opposing teams. Her save percentage of 0.806 places her at No. 2 in the Ancient Eight, and she has granted three shutouts to Penn women’s soccer in this season alone.
Her outstanding defense against Harvard on Saturday provided the grounds for her award this week. In their first conference win of the season, the Quakers defeated the current leaders of the Ivy League in a 2-1 victory, and a goal from junior midfielder Avery Chapel secured the win in the final 20 minutes. Though the Crimson attempted 16 shots in the second half alone, Austen did not let their offensive spirit faze her as she tied her career high in saves with 10 and only conceded a single goal to Harvard.
Austen is no novice to this award: this is her fifth reception of it across her career at Penn. After three accolades last season for standout performances against Cornell, Dartmouth, and Princeton, Austen was awarded Ivy League Defense Player of the Week earlier this season for her shutouts, totalling seven saves against Drexel and George Mason.
As the Quakers begin to put away their equipment with the impending end of the fall season, Penn women’s soccer is preparing for the loss of their star goalkeeper. From her first year, Austen has set a precedent for clean sheets and untouched goals on Rhodes Field. In her collegiate debut against Fairleigh Dickinson in 2022, she earned an astonishing shutout on five shots faced. Since then, she has had eight shutouts and 133 saves in her career.
The Concord, Mass. native will lead her team one last time on Nov. 1 at Rhodes Field against Yale, and it cannot be understated that the Quakers will miss her award-winning and remarkable preeminence on the field.
