A dominant performance at right-back for Melbourne City in the 2019/20 Westfield W-League season has secured Ellie Carpenter a third consecutive Young Player of the Year Award.
Carpenter received the award after a number of outstanding individual performances, as well as contributing to Melbourne City’s impressive defensive unit which conceded only five goals all season.
Starting in all 14 games for City, including the 2019/20 Westfield W-League Championship final, the 20-year old has proven that age is just a number when it comes to being an influential player on the pitch.
"I couldn't have done it without my Melbourne City teammates, staff and fans," said Carpenter.
"I had the most amazing season there with all the girls. It was very enjoyable so I definitely couldn't achieved this without them."
A new breed of defender, Carpenter’s dynamic playing style came to life for Melbourne City this season, with some of her best work coming in attack.
In total, she created 31 scoring opportunities, finishing second behind team-mate and captain Stephanie Catley, who created 35.
Carpenter and Catley also topped the charts for goal assists, alongside Sydney FC’s Caitlin Foord, with each player totalling four assists across the season.
Carpenter’s fancy footwork also had her in the top performers for crosses (61, finishing third), successful dribbles (37, finishing second) and completed passes into the final third (191, finishing third).
She topped it off with two goals for herself, both coming from inside the box against her former club Western Sydney Wanderers in Round 13.
Carpenter’s stellar performances in her first season at Melbourne City also saw her take out the club’s Player of the Year award earlier this year.
If Carpenter were to take home the Young Player of the Year award for the 2019/20 Westfield W-League season, she would write herself in the history books as the first player to win the award three seasons in a row.
Despite the hype, Carpenter remains humble about her recent successes – which includes signing with French giants Olympique Lyonnais -- and pays respect to the staff and players at Melbourne City for what she was able to achieve on the pitch during the season.
“We’re treated like professional footballers. I think just having that set-up and having world-class players around you, it's just set up for success,” Carpenter said.
That’s one of the main reasons why I made the move there [Melbourne City] as I would have been in a professional environment [to help] improve myself as a player as well.
“Every training session was so competitive. I think everyone coming to training with that mindset that we want to be better footballers and improve every day… it just made everyone improve.”
