It was just four years ago when senior D/M Georgia Kearney-Perry suffered a season ending injury against then No. 4 Virginia (Aug. 28) causing her to miss the rest of her freshman year.
Everything was new for Kearney-Perry, an English native living in a new country in New York, dealing with an injury, rehabilitating and attending classes now seems like a distant memory for the senior.
Kearney-Perry was one of the key leaders on the defensive side of the ball for the Red Storm and was statistically one of the top in the Big East in the 2013-14 season. Kearney-Perry was a key contributor on the Red Storm making the 2013 NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history, advancing to the Big East semifinal game in as many years.
So it was fitting for Kearney-Perry to win the 2014 Big East Defensive Player of Year award and also being selected to the All-Big East first team as well.
“Freshman year was really a struggle for me, but I was able to sit back and learn how to play and work on my game,” said Kearney-Perry.
“The game is really different here from my home looking back, I obviously grown as a player, which helped to be a well-rounded as a player and made me deserving of the award,” Kearney-Perry added.
Kearney-Perry credits her teammates for winning the Big East defensive player award saying she would not be a player without them.
“I believe she was deserving of this award and last year as well. If you look at this year’s stats, we conceded less goals this year in the Big East,” said coach Ian Stone to SJU-TV.
“Georgia has been phenomenal; she has got better and better and has always been a great defender and has improve on her on-ball,” Stone added.
Kearney-Perry from Tring, England in tandem with sophomore goalie Diana Poulin helped anchor the Big East’s stingiest defense in league action, as the Red Storm compiled a conference-best 0.65 goals against average during Big East contests. In the Red Storm’s first eight games in conference play, they allowed just three total goals.
On the season Kearney-Perry was one of the main factors in helping turn in eight clean sheets, just two shy of the program-record.
