Bukiewicz, Kabakci sweep SAC weekly honors
Carson-Newman women’s soccer sweeps the South Atlantic Conference’s WePlayed Sports weekly honors, with Molly Bukiewicz winning offensive player of the week and Berna Kabakci winning defensive player of the week, the league office announced Tuesday morning.
VIDEO: Molly Bukiewicz Interview
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carson-Newman women's soccer sweeps the South Atlantic Conference's WePlayed Sports weekly honors, with Molly Bukiewicz winning offensive player of the week and Berna Kabakci winning defensive player of the week, the league office announced Tuesday morning.
Interestingly enough, the last time Carson-Newman earned a player of the week, it also swept the weekly honors. That came the week of September 20, 2022, when midfielder Sydnee Duncan and goalkeeper Laura Germes collected offensive and defensive player of the week awards.
Nearly four years later, C-N repeats with a sweep of the SAC's weekly awards, seeing Bukiewicz and Kabakci collect their first career weekly honors.
"Delighted to see both of these players get recognition for everything they have done so far," Carson-Newman head coach Simon Duffy said. "Hopefully they can continue to contribute to the team success in the future."
Bukiewicz has been stellar during Carson-Newman's three-game winning streak. She has scored in each of the three wins, including twice against King this past Wednesday and once versus Trevecca Nazarene to cap a three-goal week. She posted career-high marks in goals (2) and points (5) after tallying an assist against King as well.
She is the first Eagle to score in three straight games since Magda Mosengo scored in three straight games during postseason play in 2018. The superb scoring has come on limited attempts. She has needed just five shots on goal to score four times. The graduate student's four goals this season are tied for the most in the SAC and rank sixth nationally.
Kabakci led Carson-Newman to a pair of shutout wins this past week. It's the 11th straight season the Eagles have clean sheets in back-to-back contests. For Kabakci, it's just the second time in her career she has posted consecutive clean sheets.
The junior goalkeeper was impressive in the two games. She made six saves against King and followed it up with a three-save performance versus Trevecca Nazarene. In the latter game, two of those three saves came in 1v1 situations. Her nine saves in the consecutive shutouts are the most by a SAC goalkeeper in consecutive clean sheets so far this season.
This weekly honor shines a strong light on the start to the year Kabakci has put together. She leads the SAC in saves with 24 and ranks 15th nationally. Her 0.50 goals against average mark is third in the league and 36th nationally as well.
Bukiewicz and Kabakci are back on the field tomorrow evening at home versus nationally ranked Catawba. First touch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Coverage on the Eagle Sports Network is available with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/floWsoc.
