Heather Hinz
- position Goalkeeper
- height 5-7
- class Fifth Year
- Hometown Laytonsville, MD
- Major Undecided
- High school Our Lady of Good Counsel
- position Goalkeeper
- height 5-7
- class Fifth Year
- Hometown Laytonsville, MD
- Major Undecided
- High school Our Lady of Good Counsel
Heather Hinz Bio
AWARDS:
Fifth Year (2023)
· Drafted 38th overall to Houston Dash in 2023 NWSL Draft
· United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region (First Team)
· United Soccer Coaches Academic All-American (First Team)
· SEC Goalkeeper of the Year
· All-SEC First Team
· TopDrawerSoccer Top 100 (No. 58)
· SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 23)
· College Soccer News Team of the Week (Oct. 23)
· SEC Preseason Watch List
Senior Season (2022)
· SEC Preseason Watch List
· SEC Defensive Player of the Week (8/23)
· TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week (8/23)
· College Soccer News Team of the Week (8/30)
· SEC Tournament MVP
· TopDrawerSoccer.com Top 100 (No. 79)
· SEC Academic Honor Roll
· CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District
Junior Season (2021)
· CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team
· United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region Third Team
· United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-South Region team
· SEC Academic Honor Roll
Sophomore Season (2020-21)
· SEC Defensive Player of the Week (Week 7)
· SEC Academic Honor Roll
Freshman Season (2019)
· SEC Academic Honor Roll
2023: Made 20 starts in goal…finished with 10 shutouts on the season (No. 1 in SEC, fifth-most in the country) to bring her career total to 32, placing her at the solo No. 3 spot in the South Carolina record books…tallied a season-high nine saves against Texas A&M (Oct. 19), the third-most saves in the conference in the 2023 season…had a four-game clean sheet streak beginning with Ole Miss (Oct. 13), continuing through Texas A&M, Georgia, and Florida…Finished at the No. 1 spot in the SEC for overall save percentage (.864, 27th in NCAA) and GAA (.632, 24th in NCAA)…named SEC Goalkeeper of the Year, the first for a South Carolina keeper since Mikayla Krzeczowski in 2019…selected 38th overall to the Houston Dash in the 2024 NWSL Draft…
2022: Started all 24 games in goal…ranked third in the nation in minutes played with 2135, most in the SEC, third most in a season at South Carolina…ranked first in the country for 13 shutouts on the season, first in the SEC, third overall in a season…23rd in the nation in goals against average at 0.632, first in SEC, eighth all-time in a season…her 82 saves ranks third all-time in a season and most ever by a senior keeper…made a season-high eight saves in 2-2 tie against local foe Clemson (Sept. 1)…had seven games with five saves or more…recorded 10 saves throughout the SEC tournament and 11 in the NCAA tournament with eight coming against Duke in the Sweet 16…named SEC Tournament MVP…named Defensive Player of the Year at annual team banquet…
2021: Started all 22 games in goal… Ranked 18th in the country in minutes played with 1980:50 and second in the SEC… Ranked 103rd in the nation in goals against average at 1.045 and third in the SEC… Her seven shutouts ranked 57th in the nation and third in the SEC… Her 1981 minutes in goal rank seventh all-time in a single season in program history… Her 67 saves on the year rank seventh all-time in a season… Her seven shutouts are tied for seventh all-time in a season …Recorded three straight matches with five or more saves against Hofstra (7), Penn State (5), and BYU (11), becoming the first player in 10 years to record three consecutive games of 5+ saves (Sabrina D’Angelo, Sept. 2011)… Made 11 saves against BYU in the NCAA Tournament, the most by a goalie in four years.
2020-21: Started 10 matches for the Gamecocks during the shortened season… Started nine straight matches for Carolina starting with her first career start against Kentucky where she secured a clean sheet with one save in the 1-0 victory at Stone Stadium… Was in goal for the Garnet and Black when the team earned a 2-1 victory over No. 3 Arkansas on the road, the second highest ranked win in program history where she made a then-career high six saves against the Razorbacks… Made six saves two more times during the rest of the season include in a 2-1 loss to Arkansas in the SEC Tournament and a 2-1 loss to Clemson… Made a team-high 36 saves during the season, holding a goals against average of 1.08 in 913:03 minutes in goal… Was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career after registering a four-save shutout in a win over Mississippi State, a match in which she made a penalty kick save to help keep the match at 1-0… Secured a team-high four shutouts during the season, allowing a total of 11 goals with a save percentage of 76.6 percent.
2019: Appeared in one match, playing 45 minutes in goal against Jacksonville University in a 6-0 win.
PRE COLLEGE: All-American… All-Region… Two-time All-Met First Team… All-State First Team… Three-time All-Conference First Team… Was a part of ECNL National Qualifier with Bethesda Union… Participated in Nationals in San Diego with Bethesda Union
PERSONAL: Daughter of Laura and Lance Hinz… Sister Megan played soccer at the University of Michigan (2014-17) and in the NWSL.
Chose the University of South Carolina because: “The big school atmosphere and the great team environment. The academic support at South Carolina was also a big factor.”