University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia's Carrie Patterson Named SoccerBuzz Freshman All-American
December 18, 2006 | Soccer
“I am extremely pleased and very excited for Carrie to receive such prestigious honors,” said Georgia head coach Patrick Baker. “These awards are truly a testament to the type of season Carrie had. Not only showing is she considered one of the top freshmen in the country, but to make second-team All-Region, which is inclusive of all players regardless of class, is a real credit to her. To be considered one of top players in the south and in the country, especially when you look at the other big-name players around her and realize that she didn’t have one of the biggest names coming out of high school, speaks volumes about her efforts.”
Patterson becomes just the fifth Bulldog in program history to earn Freshman All-America status, joining Kristy Bongiovanni (1997), Carolyn Cayard (1999), Charisse Co (2001) and Susie Weber (2004).
“Carrie is among some very good company there,” said Baker. “Having coached all of those players at one point or another in either their youth or college careers, we are talking about some of the best players who have ever played at Georgia. Bongiovanni and Cayard especially, Co and Weber didn’t finish their careers here but made great impacts their freshman year. The nice thing about Carrie is that she will begin and end her career here and she has the potential to be one of the best players to ever wear a Georgia uniform.”
Patterson was one of seven players from the SEC to be named Freshmen All-America. Lauren Hyde of Florida made the first team, Patterson, Blakely Mattern (USC) and Chelsea Potts (LSU) were second-team picks, Kentucky’s Guileana Lopez and Danielle Johnson of Ole Miss were third-team choices and Michelle Makasini of LSU made the fourth team.
“From a conference standpoint this is very impressive,” said Baker. “We need the SEC to be much more represented as a conference and we think that will be the case. When you look at the talent that is currently in the conference and the talent that is being attracted to the conference over the next couple of years, it is only going to get tougher to be successful individually and collectively in the SEC.”
These most recent awards are just the latest in a long line of honors collected by Patterson this year. The following is a complete listing of all of her 2006 postseason accolades:
-SoccerBuzz Freshman All-America (second team)
-SoccerBuzz All-Southeast Region (second team)
-SoccerBuzz Freshman All-Region
-NSCAA All-Region (second team)
-Top Drawer Soccer All-Rookie Team
-SEC Freshman of the Year
-First-team All-SEC
-All-SEC Freshman team
Patterson put forth a record-breaking effort in her inaugural season as a Bulldog establishing new freshman records for goals (12), assists (7) and points (31). She tied the record for most game-winning goals by a freshman with three and she also became the first Bulldog in program history, regardless of class, to score 20 points in a season against SEC competition. In her first week of collegiate play she was selected as the SEC Freshman of the Week and just a couple of weeks later was named the MVP of the Virginia Nike Classic, as Georgia won the four-team tournament.
