Kirkaldy Earns Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week
11/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Nov. 1, 2005
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Christina Kirkaldy earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors after guiding the Michigan State defense to a 3-2 upset over No. 8 Ohio State and a 2-1 win over Ohio University last weekend. It was the seventh time in her career that she has earned such honors.
"The defense did a great job over the weekend," head coach Michele Madison said. "They did their job and it allowed Kirkaldy to do hers."
In one of her best performances of the year, Kirkaldy made eight stops against the Buckeyes on Saturday, Oct. 29. She followed the next day stopping four shots against Ohio. Kirkaldy ranks fourth in the conference with a goal against average of 1.55 and a save percentage of .744.
Kirkaldy has never missed a contest, starting in every game of her career (89 of 89), one of only a few players in Michigan State's history to accomplish such a feat. This season, she has played 1358:34 of 1360:50 minutes. Kirkaldy posted back-to-back shutouts against Pacific (Sept. 3) and Stanford (Sept. 5) and stopped a season-high nine shots at Indiana (Sept. 24). Twice this season, Kirkaldy has had games of eight saves. She was also recently chosen for the 2005 NFHCA Division I North/South Senior All-Star Game.
Kirkaldy entered 2005 with 17 shutouts and ranked seventh at MSU in career saves with 284. She has since moved into fifth place on the list, making 90 saves so far this season. Heading into the Big Ten Tournament on Friday, Nov. 4, against third-seeded Ohio State at 3p.m., Kirkaldy needs eight more stops to reach Susan Roberts at 382. To date, Kirkaldy has posted a career record of 70-19 overall, with a Big Ten record of 17-7, giving her more wins than any other goalie in Michigan State history.
