CINCINNATI - The American Athletic Conference announced its weekly awards for women's soccer with a trio of player for the University of Cincinnati program receiving recognition, including freshman Ashley Barron, who was selected this week's AAC Defensive Player of the Week. Barron, along with AAC Honor Roll recipients Madison Less and Camryn Hartman, helped the Bearcats to a perfect start in AAC play over the weekend with a pair of shutout wins on the road, including 2-0 at Temple and 1-0 in overtime at UConn.
// STRONG DEFENSE
Over the weekend, the Bearcats shutout both Temple and UConn, marking the first time UC has posted clean sheets against conference foes since the 2017 season. Barron, a true freshman, started both matches and played 61 minutes in the opener with the Owls before playing the entire 93+ minutes at UConn. Her play along the back line helped limit chances on goal and propelled the Bearcats to its first 2-0-0 start in AAC play in program history and just their second six-point weekend in league play.
// KEEPING IT CLEAN
One again, Less was on top of her game of the weekend as she kept a clean sheet for the fourth and fifth times this season to help UC to two wins. Thursday, she was called upon to stop two Temple shots before she turned away all three sent in her direction Sunday at UConn, including a diving stab late in the match to keep things scoreless. With both results in the books, she now ranks seventh all-time in UC history with 13.0 shutouts to her credit and eighth all-time in goalkeeper wins with 13 as well. Additionally, she has anchored a defense that has not been scored upon in four-straight matches and, when adding in the final 57 minutes of play at Lipscomb, the team has not conceded a goal in 470:04 of playing time, the eighth-longest streak in program history.
// ACCOUNT OPENED
Hartman, a sophomore, earned a place on the Honor Roll after netting her first collegiate goal Thursday night in UC's 2-0 win at Temple. With the match square at 0-0, Hartman collected a pass through the box and moved in on goal, sending a low shot to the back post and into the netting for a 1-0 lead. Not only was the score the first of her collegiate career, it also went down as the game-winner, also the first of her career. Hartman earned a spot in the Starting XI in both matches, playing 50 minutes at Temple before adding another 74 in the win at UConn Sunday.
// RUNNING TOTALS
With the three selections this week, UC has garnered eight awards from the AAC in 2019. Less has twice been named the goalkeeper of the week to go along with her back-to-back Honor Roll awards while Hartman, Han Tang (9/16) and Vanessa DiNardo (8/26) have also been selections to the Honor Roll this season. Barron earned her first career accolade from the AAC and the first defensive honor since the 2017 season. Overall, since the start of the 2013 season (the first year of AAC play), 27 different Bearcats have accumulated a total of 81 awards, including 45 Honor Roll, 7 offensive, 17 defensive, 9 goalkeeper and 3 rookie accolades.
// NEXT UP
The Bearcats have this week off from competition and will return to action next Thursday, October 10, in a 7 p.m. meeting with #11 Memphis inside Gettler Stadium in Cincinnati.
// 2019 AAC Weekly Awards (8)
Goalkeeper of the Week (2)
Madison Less • Aug. 26 & Sept. 16
Defensive Player of the Week (1)
Ashley Barron • Sept. 30
Honor Roll (5)
Vanessa DiNardo • Aug. 26
Camryn Hartman • Sept. 30
Madison Less • Sept. 23 & Sept. 30
Han Tang • Sept. 16
Barron Named AAC Defensive Player of the Week
The American Athletic Conference announced its weekly awards for women's soccer with a trio of player for the University of Cincinnati program receiving recognition, including freshman Ashley Barron, who was selected this week's AAC Defensive Player of the Week.
