Southeast soccer player Maddi Karstens gives credit to her team for her Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week recognition.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them,” she said. “I’m good because they’re good.”

Hard work from the team during the preseason had the Redhawks feeling good for the start of the season. Karstens said working with their strength and conditioning coach and lifting weights got the team feeling fit and ready to play.

The biology major was walking from class to practice when she received the news about the selection for the OVC Player of the Week.

“I was really surprised, I had no idea I was up for [the award],” Karstens said.

“We are always excited when we get OVC recognition within our program,” head coach Heather Nelson said. “I think she’s deserved it. She’s been getting better every game.”

Nelson said Karstens was a forward for the Redhawks two years ago as a freshman, but was moved to center back at the beginning of her sophomore season.

“She did have some experience (at center back), but not at the collegiate level,” Nelson said. ”She grew a lot last season in our program. To have a player in her junior year really settling in a position and she’s got a lot of athleticism and a huge heart and a huge passion for this game. She’s one of the most coachable kids that I’ve had in my career.”

Nelson said transitioning from forward to center back is a huge change in mentality, but Karstens handled it well. Karstens had to take what she learned as a forward and try to see things from a completely different perspective as a defensive player.

“When you’re a forward player, the only way you’re successful is you have to be a risk taker,” she said. “To be successful at a center back position, you are a safety person. Everything you do in the back you’re always evaluating risk to reward. And it has to come out on the reward side.”

Karstens said being a great defender involves having confidence in both herself and her fellow defenders.

“If you go to a ball, they are going to have your back,” she said. “I worry about the ball and not the player. If the player has the ball, I have to go off of their first move and not overcommit.”

Karstens hopes to keep up the intensity for the remainder of the season. She said the team’s performance during the Sept. 4 match against the University of Louisville Cardinals was a great example of the team’s collective effort.

Although the Redhawks lost 0-1, they kept the score even until the 83rd minute, when a pass from Kennadi Carbin was shot into goal by Morgan Dewey.

“I think if we give it our all, we are going to do great and go far,” Karstens said.