Brockport’s Nieboer Does It Again: Second Straight Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Week
Some freshmen need time. Julia Nieboer isn’t one of them.
Brockport’s first-year goalkeeper has been named Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Week for a second straight week, after closing the regular season with back-to-back complete-game shutouts. That’s two weeks running, two clean sheets, and a postseason run that now has a very obvious foundation.
The week started with a 5-0 shutout of Nazareth in the regular-season finale, Nieboer turning away all four shots she faced. Then she did it again in the first round of the Empire 8 tournament, stopping all four shots on target across 60 minutes in a 1-0 win over Utica. Eight shots faced across two games, none of them in.
That’s the kind of form that changes a tournament. Brockport don’t need to score four goals to win right now. One is enough, because the goalkeeper behind them isn’t giving anything away.
Next up is the hard part. Brockport travel to Oneonta to face Hartwick in the Empire 8 semi-finals on Wednesday 4 November at 2pm. Hartwick will have seen the last two weeks, and they’ll know exactly what they’re up against. For our money, if Nieboer keeps this run going, Brockport are a very awkward opponent for anyone left in this bracket.