Kara Linder

Kansas State

Sep 18 (Thu)

7 p.m.

Position:
Goalkeeper
Height:
5-9
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Lincoln, Neb.
High School:
Lincoln East

2006 Big 12 Newcomer of the Week (Aug. 28, 2006)
2009 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week (Aug. 25, Sept. 29)
2009 Big 12 All-Academic second team

HEMPEN ON LINDER: Kara comes in with the most experience of all the goalkeepers. Having been a starter as a sophomore we're expecting her to have a great season for us, and we need her to.

SENIOR (2009): Linder was one of four players start in all 19 of CU’s games during ’09. She recorded 71 saves moving her into sixth on CU’s top saves list with 126 career saves. Linder tallied six shutouts on the season moving her into the third spot on CU’s all-time most shutouts in a season list. She now records the third most career shutouts as goalie with 12, and she is only the third Buff to log 20 or more career wins. She was named Big 12 Defensive player of the Week on two occasions. Her first honor came after she racked up three saves and shutout OSU 1-0 during CU’s home opener. Her second award came after a pair of 1-0 victories over Nebraska and Iowa State.

JUNIOR (2008): Linder landed the starting job in the beginning of the season, but had to battle it out with former keeper Kirstin Radlinski for a majority of the schedule. Linder started three games as a junior and saw action in six games total.

SOPHOMORE (2007): Saw action in 12 of CU's 22 games and picked up nine starts on the year, including a four-game stretch early in the season where she didn't let in a single goal. Linder led all Big 12 goalkeepers with a conference-low 0.36 goals against average and the conference-high .900 save percentage on the season, allowing only three goals all year. She finished the season with four shutouts and was also at the top of the Big 12 leaderboard with 0.33 shutouts per game. Linder grabbed a career-high 27 saves and owned a 5-3-1 record in her sophomore campaign. Her 2007 stats moved her to the top of the CU career charts for goals against average, with a program-low 0.72.

FRESHMAN (2006): Linder started her freshman year off in style, dueling NSCAA All-Region goalkeeper Tyler Griffin to a scoreless shutout in the first game of the season, posting five saves in 110 minutes of action. She then backed that up with 57 mintues of scoreless action against Alabama, feat that earned her Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors. Linder started the first eight games of the season and saw action in 12 total games, positing a goals against average of 1.08 and grabbing 26 saves in the process. She owned a record of 6-2-1, earning two solo shutouts and another three shared with Kirstin Radlinski.

HIGH SCHOOL: Linder helped her Lincoln East Spartans dominate Nebraska Class A prep soccer during her four year career. With 11 shutouts as a senior, Linder holds LEHS record for career shutouts with 39 and finished her high school campaign with a 51-7 record, allowing only 27 goals, with a 0.46 goals against average. A senior captain for the Spartans, she was named to the All-Nebraska Team, Super State first team, Class A All-State first team, All-Heartland Conference first team and the All-City first team. As a junior she captained the Spartans to the Class A State Championship with a record of 14-3, earning Academic All-State, Academic All-Heartland Conference, All-Nebraska Team, Super State first-team, Class A All-State first-team, All-Heartland Conference first-team and All-City first-team honors. Her sophomore year LEHS went 17-0 en route to the state championship, a season which saw her set the school record for shutouts with 13. Thanks to those efforts in net, she was named to the All-City first-team, the Super State second-team and the Class A first-team All-State. As a freshman, the Spartans went 16-3, were state finalists and won the Lincoln City Championship. On the club and Olympic Development side, Linder has been a member of the Nebraska State ODP team the last four years (2002-05) and the 2005 Nebraska/Iowa team. She was a member of the club team Sparta Velocity that has won five consecutive Nebraska State Championships (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006) under coach Lindsey Ingram, and Linder was a guest player for the Colorado Girls Soccer Academy in 2005.

IN THE CLASSROOM: Linder is Integrative Physiology major at Colorado. Linder was also named to the Big 12 All-Academic second team following her senior campaign.

PERSONAL: Kara Lena Linder was born April 12, 1988 in Lincoln, Neb. She is the daughter of Mike and Denise Linder. She has a younger brother, Luke, who is 18 years old and a freshman at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.