In the mere fragments of a game, everything can change. A single lapse in communication or a misread of the ball can cost the team everything in the blink of an eye. These are just a few of the pressures that a goalkeeper in soccer feels every game.
Junior Tommy Fenton and Senior Mallory Forgatch are the two starting goalies on the men’s and women’s soccer teams at Springfield College, and the duo is well aware that protecting the net is no small task. Yet, the biggest strength these goalkeepers have doesn’t come from athleticism or watching film; instead, it comes from their voices.
“A lot of people wouldn’t expect it, but from a keeper’s perspective, we’re not really studying the other team’s management with the ball; it’s more off-ball stuff,” Fenton said. “We spend more time talking about communication rather than actually saving the ball because the mindset we have is that if we can stop a shot before it happens, it makes our lives so much easier.”
Except there is simply nothing easy about it. The goalkeeper has to not only watch the ball in front of them, but also what every teammate is doing at the same time, knowing that if an opponent breaks through for an angle, they might be staring at a deficit.
“A breakaway is the worst when a defender doesn’t really see a man coming in from behind them,” Forgatch said. “Make sure everyone is goal side and tight to their marks and follow their marks wherever they run.”
When sitting in the stands at Brock Affleck Field, where the Pride soccer teams take the pitch, there is always one common voice you’ll hear above the rest: the keepers.
“It’s constant, it’s nonstop,” Fenton said. “We always say that after the game our bodies shouldn’t hurt, our voices should hurt.”
The physical exhaustion of a goalkeeper takes its measure over the course of a long season, but the position takes just as much of a toll on the mind.
“The biggest challenge is knowing that when a midfielder makes a mistake, you have eight guys behind you,” Fenton added. “I make a mistake, and we have to fight our way back in; it’s just all self-talk, and all you can do when you make a mistake is move on.”
Moving on during the course of a game is much easier said than done, but with the rapid pace that 90 minutes travels on the pitch, the goalkeeper doesn’t have a choice.
“Our team is really big on the next thing mentality,” Forgatch said. “If we get scored on, obviously it has to get through ten people before it gets to me, but it’s always focus on the next thing.”
In the perfect game for a goalkeeper, they wouldn’t have much pressure in their own box at all, but the perfect game is seldom a reality. Oftentimes, Fenton and Forgatch are constantly analyzing the field in front of them, strategically planning when to come out, when to play the line, and whether to catch the ball or deflect it away from the goal.
“Depends on the situation, but hips and eyes are a big thing,” Fenton said. “It’s a lot of reaction, and it just comes with time.”
Like most things in life, perfection is nearly impossible, but the only way that a goalkeeper can truly be at their peak is when they are willing to put their bodies on the line to protect the 24 feet of net behind them.
“Being in shape for the field is so much different than being in shape for a keeper,” Fenton said. “Getting up and down it’s incredibly fatiguing; people don’t always realize that.”
When in goal, Fenton is always spotted wearing a guardian cap to protect his head from being hit during diving plays or in-game collisions. It has become something over time he’s realized protects him from head injuries, something he has unfortunately become accustomed to in the net.
“I’ve had enough concussions to count,” Fenton stated. “I’ve worn it for eight years, and it’s just part of my personality now.”
Maybe the biggest misconception about the person in goal is that they aren’t working nearly as hard as a midfielder or attacking player because they don’t run nearly as much, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Goalkeepers are constantly moving, reacting, and preparing for their moment more intensely than most.
“People just assume you can’t run, you can’t kick a ball,” Forgatch said. “There are definitely stereotypes around that, but they’re not true at all.”
Now that Forgatch is in the start of her senior season, she realises this is the last run that she can make with her teammates. After a midseason turnaround that took the Women’s Soccer team all the way to the NEWMAC championship game a season ago, Forgatch reflected a bit of wisdom to any future up-and-coming goalie.
“I feel positive self-talk is a huge thing that I have had to learn how to do and adjust to,” she said. “It’s not that you just have to be confident; it’s more that you have to tell yourself, I’m going to make this save, I’m going to hit this ball to my teammate, I know I can do this, and I know what I am doing.”
While it may just be a mesh net tied to the white metal goalposts, to Fenton and Forgatch, it has become a home away from home, something they would do anything to protect.