Troy University Athletics
Pinder Honored by Soccer Buzz
9/18/2008 5:00:00 AM | Soccer
TROY - Troy's Jill Pinder was named to the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week Thursday, for the first time in her career.
In a week that saw Troy go 3-0-0, Pinder tallied three-straight hat tricks for a total of nine goals. For the season Pinder has scored a NCAA-high 13 times, already establishing a new Troy record for goals in a season. She also became the first player in Troy Soccer history to record back-to-back hat tricks and back-to-back-to-back hat tricks. For the week she tallied 21 shots with 19 shots on goal. Additionally, down 2-0, Jill found the back of the net three times to propel Troy to its first win over in-state rival Jacksonville State.
In addition to leading the nation in goals, Pinder leads all of Division I in Goals Per Game (1.857) and is tied for the lead in points per game with Georgia State's Kay Harbrueger at 3.71.
“Jill is a unique player because she only cares about the team and her individual accomplishments come second. She is very deserving of this honor but I think she would be the first to tell you she is doing everything she can to help the team succeed. Her work ethic off the ball is directly related to how she is scoring goals,” head coach Chris Bentley said.
Pinder was also named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week for the week of September 8-14. That was the first such award for a Trojan soccer player since Troy's move to the Sun Belt Conference in 2005.
Pinder's appearance on the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week is also the first honor for the Trojans in the team's history. She is also just the second SBC player to be honored in 2008, joining Denver's Mariah Johnson.
“It's great that SoccerBuzz has taken notice of our program. This is something that can only help in developing our program further,” Bentley said.
Pinder and the rest of the Trojans will be back in action on Friday when they host day one of the Troy Trojans Soccer Classic. The Trojans will face North Florida at 3 pm.
