| October 8, 2012
DEFENSIVE HONOR
Area native Ali Hall gets SEC nod
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Former Eclipse star Ali Hall of the University of Tennessee was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week
Photo courtesy of Tennessee Sports Information |
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – After anchoring the back line in Tennessee’s shutout wins at South Carolina and Auburn over the weekend, Tennessee senior defender Ali Hall was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week.
Hall, a native of Hawthorne, Illinois, played the full 180 minutes of the weekend as Tennessee (10-3-2, 5-2-1 SEC) posted a pair of 1-0 road victories over defending SEC regular season champion South Carolina (4-6-4, 1-4-3 SEC) and defending SEC Tournament champion Auburn (8-7-0, 4-4-0 SEC).
The senior center back was a defensive stalwart for the Lady Vols against the Gamecocks and the Tigers. Hall and sophomore Allie Sirna served as a road block in the middle of the UT back line, putting ends to opponents’ runs up the middle and clearing out crosses into the box.
Hall helped neutralize South Carolina’s and Auburn’s top offensive players. USC’s top point scorer, Courtney Angotti-Smith, was held without a shot and its top two goal scorers, Daniele Au and Coryn Bajema combined for just two shots (none on goal). Hall also helped limit Auburn’s top scorer, Tatiana Coleman, to just one shot.
Hall also took most of UT’s free kicks and initiated the direction of many attacks after dribbling the ball past midfield.
In addition to playing high school soccer at Adlai Stevenson, the 2007 NSCAA/adidas All-American helped guide Eclipse to a national championship (2005), two appearances in the national finals, two U.S. Youth Soccer Region II titles, the 2008 Illinois state title, the 2008 Disney Showcase U18-19 championship, second place at the U17 Nationals and both 2008 U17 regional and state titles.
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