GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – North Carolina freshman forward Alessia Russo has been named this week’s ACC Offensive Player of the Week, while Tar Heel junior defender Julia Ashley and Duke senior defender Schuyler DeBree share this week’s Defensive Player of the Week honor.
Russo scored three of Carolina’s five goals in road wins over Miami and Wake Forest last week. The English international player broke a 0-0 tie with Miami less than three minutes into the second half of the Tar Heels’ win on October 5 as she beat several players on the dribble for the game-winning goal in an eventual 3-0 victory. She came back three days later to score both Tar Heel goals in a 2-0 win at No. 15/16 Wake Forest. Russo one-timed home a cross from Bridgette Andrzejewski in the 23rd minute for the game-winning goal against the Demon Deacons, and added the insurance goal in the 70th minute, again dribbling through several defenders before finishing just inside the box for her seventh goal of the year.
Ashley again led the Tar Heel defense as it posted its fourth and fifth shutouts in ACC games with wins over Miami (3-0) and Wake Forest (2-0). The Tar Heel defense allowed only 10 shots in the two games combined – six by Miami and four by Wake Forest. Ashley also assisted on goals in both games as she had the helper on Madison Schultz’s insurance goal in the win over the Hurricanes and then assisted on Russo’s game-winning goal in the 2-0 victory over the Demon Deacons.
DeBree led a Blue Devil defense that posted a pair of 2-0 shutouts against NC State and No. 16 Florida State. She played the full 90 minutes in both matches and has now gone the distance in 10-straight matches and in 12 of Duke’s 13 contests this season, playing in a team-high 1,259 total minutes. The Fair Haven, New Jersey, native led Duke to its fifth shutout of an ACC opponent out of six total matches, which is tied for the fifth most in program history. Her leadership on defense has been key in Duke’s program-record 13-match winning streak and 6-0-0 start to ACC play, which is the best start to league action in school history, besting the original mark set in 1997.
North Carolina and Duke remain in the top five of this week’s Soccer America rankings and lead a contingent of five ACC teams ranked in the Top 25. The other three teams in this week’s poll are No. No. 9 Florida State, No. 13 Virginia and No. 18 Wake Forest.
The United Soccer Coaches will announce its poll later this afternoon.