North Carolina has thrived despite instability between the pipes, a curiously common trait among top teams.
On paper, today’s top teams seem to struggle finding a Kahoe-type standout. When this edition of Lacrosse Magazine went to press, Syracuse was ranked No. 2 nationally despite Richardson and Costantino ranking 73rd and 97th, respectively, in save percentage among 100 goalies to play statistically significant minutes this season. Just five players in all of Division I were above 50 percent. Sue Heether, a three-time U.S. team
goalie and gold medal-winning coach, blamed mechanics for the apparent decline in goalkeeping. She said there are three steps goalies need to master in their arc — straight ahead, 45 degrees to the left and 45 degrees to the right. “People would shake their heads
at me and say, ‘That’s old-school goalkeeping.’ But guess what? It had a much higher percentage of stopping the ball,” Heether said. “It’s not the only change, but right now, they’re not taking those three steps.” But lower save percentages do
not necessarily indicate a lack of elite goalies, said Devon Wills, the USC assistant and two-time U.S. team goalie who recently became the first female to make a Major League Lacrosse roster. In college, Wills’ worst statistical year
goalies Kelsey Richardson and Alyssa Costantino, Maryland turned to freshman Emily Kift in a big spot against Boston College and North Carolina inserted freshman Caylee Waters as its starter in a timeshare with sophomore Megan Ward — the hero of the 2013 NCAA championship. If three of the top teams in Division I
can’t find stability at the goalie position, what does it say for the rest of women’s lacrosse? Why is the most important position on the field seemingly the most neglected?
Numbers Don’t Lie In 2000, the best goalie around,
Maryland’s Alex Kahoe, finished with a career save percentage near 65 percent. With the most saves in Terps history (968), Kahoe was a two-time IWLCA Division I Goalie of the Year.
(50.2 percent) came in 2006, when she led Dartmouth to its only NCAA championship game appearance. The millennial goalie is athletic, quick, mentally tough, resilient and confident. But athleticism has become paramount. “I’ve always thought you put the most
athletic kid in the cage,” Wills said. “Just like any other sport, you don’t choose what you love. It chooses you. Same with that position. People who are goalies couldn’t imagine being anywhere else on the field. If you love the game, you’re willing to put the work in. That separates the good from the great.” Heether, who coached Wills in the
2009 FIL Women’s World Cup, said the appeal of flashier goalies who come out of the crease and make unorthodox saves has come at a cost, with fewer rooted in the fundamentals (or what she called the “math and science”) of the position.
Game Changer The solution? Increase awareness.
Improve instruction. Provide better resources. Thanks to the Goalie Education Task
Force, spearheaded by Monmouth coach and world-renowned goalie guru Denise Wescott, that soon will be a possibility. Forty-one of the 103 Division I
women’s lacrosse teams have a former goalie on the coaching staff to provide specialized training. That number seems too low for Melissa Coyne, the women’s game director at US Lacrosse. A former North Carolina goalie and current Bryn Mawr (Md.) assistant, Coyne knows firsthand that the jump from high school to college requires more tutelage for the position. The task force has developed a goalie-specific curriculum for the US Lacrosse Coaches Education Program, targeting youth lacrosse with hopes of producing sound goalies for the future. Level 1 focuses on hand-eye coordination, footwork and positioning. Level 2 incorporates communication in challenging circumstances, like man-down or 1-on-1, and how to play angles for an interception or ground ball. Level 3 teaches movement outside the crease, being a part of the clear or pressuring in a ride. “If your defensive coach is in charge
of the goalie, at least have them go through the goalie camps, research the position, buy the videos,” said Wescott, a former four-year starter at Maryland. “Make sure that there’s somebody on the staff who’s in charge of the goalie and works with the goalies to actually know what they’re doing with them.” Ashley Gersuk was the goalie at
Northwestern in 2005, when it won the first of seven NCAA championships. She benefitted from working with a goalie coach, Alexis Venechanos, who now is the head coach at Ohio State. “A lacrosse goalie relative to a goalie
in other sports is certainly one of the most challenging just based on the dynamics of the game, the size of the ball, the ability for an attacker to shoot from all different planes,” Gersuk said. “Goalies have the potential to be the difference between a good team and a great team, a great team and a championship team.” LM
A Publication of US Lacrosse
June 2014 >> LACROSSE MAGAZINE 57
©BRYCE VICKMARK
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