By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – One of the most decorated to ever throw on the purple and gold will continue her play on the pitch at the next level. Former Tennessee Tech soccer player Kari Naerdemann, the program record holder for career victories between the pipes, has signed on with SV Meppen, a German associated soccer club that plays in Meppen, Lower Saxony.
Naerdemann, a four-year Golden Eagle that concluded her playing career at the end of the 2018 season, shattered the program's all-time wins record with 35 victories in net, seven more than Carly King's 28 nods from 2001-04. Naerdemann's 34 shutouts were not only the best in program history, but also set the standard for career clean sheets in the OVC, highlighted by her TTU single-season record 11 back in 2016.
The league's only ever three-time OVC Defensive Player of the Year, Naerdemann claimed the honor in each of her first three seasons in purple and gold. The Herne, Germany native is the program's all-time record holder with a career 0.79 goals against average and a career .844 save percentage, and is responsible for Tech's top three single-season goals against average and save percentage marks. Naerdemann's .890 save percentage as a junior in 2017 is the OVC's highest ever, a year that saw the 5-foot-9 Golden Eagle allow a TTU single-season low eight goals, while making 65 saves in the process.
A member of Frauen-Bundesliga, the second-highest women's league in Germany, SV Meppen plays in Hansch-Arena in Meppen, Lower Saxony. The club is coming off a strong 2018-19 campaign that saw them fall within just one point of a promotion to Germany's top women's league.
The season begins August 11th and will run through the end of May.
