A new battle has emerged within the ASU women’s soccer team.
With the season well underway for the Sun Devils (3-1-1), the battle for the goalkeeper position has reopened while head coach Kevin Boyd looks for consistency and resiliency.
During Sunday night's game against University of Denver, the Pioneers scored two goals before halftime on redshirt junior goalkeeper Megan Delaney.
“We gave up two goals that both should have been bread-and-butter saves, and to give those up puts your team in a really bad spot,” Boyd said.
Boyd said the goalkeeper position is now up for grabs.
“Originally, Megan had emerged as having the most experience, and she performed well so the spot was hers from then on out,” Boyd said. “Obviously, Sunday was not a very good performance so in the aftermath of that game we are wide open again with all three of them.”
Forwards miss opportunities, midfielders fail to complete passes and defenders blow coverage. However, very few of those mistakes have an impact as grave as that of the keeper.
Sophomore goalkeeper Sydney Day realizes the opportunity she has with the starting spot being open, but also notes how much pressure goalkeepers play under.
“You make mistakes, and when you do it costs you a goal,” Day said. “You have to jump right back and you can’t change it, it happened, so you have to re-focus and not let it happen again.”
Boyd pointed to consistency as a method for choosing a starting goalkeeper.
“For goalkeepers, I want them to make the saves they should make, they will make spectacular saves, but more important to me is I want that goalkeeper that will make the bread-and-butter save every time,” Boyd said.
Freshman goalkeeper Emma Malsy said she's just happy to be in contention.
“There’s a big opportunity that the position is wide open," Malsy said. "At the end of the day it comes down to what the coaches think is best for the team and our program."
During practice, Boyd looks to assistant coach Colleen Boyd (no relation) for guidance in regards to which goalkeeper is mentally and physically capable.
“Every day that they train, I always ask Colleen to rate them on who was the best today on a 1-3 scale and she’s been doing that since preseason for me,” Boyd said.
The competition between goalkeepers brings the need for balance between friendship and rivalry, which Delaney says makes her work harder.
“I think there is competition every single day,” Delaney said. “We have a big group of goalkeepers, but I think its great going to practice and knowing you can’t take a day off, and if you have on off-day it shows.”
Boyd said during his nine years at ASU, he has never had three keepers that are all on the same level — making his decision that much tougher.
“One of our values of our program is merit, so whoever is preforming the best is going to play,” Boyd said. “I can’t make it happen for them, one of them has to emerge.”
Reach the reporter at kcvalen1@asu.edu or follow @kvalenzuela17 on Twitter.
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