STATESBORO - Georgia Southern junior center back Sade Heinrichs has been named the Sun Belt Conference Women's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week, announced today by league officials.

Heinrichs played all 180 minutes in Georgia Southern's pair of shutout wins this week, extending the Eagles' current win streak and shutout streak to five matches. The Monchengladbach, Germany, native was huge in defense in the Eagles' 1-0 win at ULM on Thursday and in a 1-0 win over James Madison, who entered Sunday's match unbeaten in Sun Belt play. Against the Dukes on Sunday, she won several one-on-one battles against the James Madison forwards and limited the team to just 10 shots in the victory. 

A second-team All-Sun Belt selection a year ago, Heinrichs played in all 90 minutes in 14 straight matches for the Eagles this season and combined with fellow center back Megan Przybysz, the center back pairing have missed just 30 minutes of time on the pitch in 2022. This is the second weekly honor for Heinrichs in her career as she was the league's Defensive Player of the Week on October 5, 2021. It is the second weekly honor for the Eagles in 2022 as freshman goalkeeper Katie Oakley was the league's Defensive Player of the Week on September 6.

Heinrichs and the Eagles wrap up the 2022 regular season on Thursday, visiting Georgia State for a 7 p.m. contest in Atlanta.