St. Bonaventure University sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Malcolm has earned NCAA Women’s Soccer National Player of the Week honors as announced Wednesday.
Malcolm was selected through an open Twitter vote of four finalists from around the country who were all picked based upon their performance during the past week. In a voting put out by the official NCAA Soccer Twitter account Wednesday, Malcolm picked up 42 percent of the vote against Mara Cosentino of Colgate, Katie Forsee of Portland State and Rachel Morrier of UMass-Lowell.
During the past week, Malcolm made 18 saves in net for the Bonnies and did not allow a goal in back-to-back shutouts.
At Fordham on Thursday, the native of Moon Township, Pa. was outstanding as she registered 13 saves in a scoreless double overtime draw. Frequently making highlight reel saves during the night, her 13 stops matched a career high and also equal the most in a single game by any Atlantic 10 goalkeeper this season.
On Sunday against Rhode Island at home, Malcolm helped key the Bonnies’ first victory in Atlantic 10 competition with a 2-0 shutout. After the Bonnies seized a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute, she answered every challenge the Rams made in an effort to tie the game. She finished with five saves on the afternoon to record her second consecutive clean sheet, third of the season and fifth of her career.
For the season, Malcolm leads the Atlantic 10 and is third in the nation with 100 saves through 15 games. She stands just four away from the nation’s leaders in saves – Ceci Keppeler of VMI and Faith Toennies of Jackson State who each have 104. Malcolm also ranks 11th nationally in minutes played this season, starting every game and logging over 1,383 minutes in net.