Your edge // players
THE OVERHEAD DOOZY
How Team USA’s Liz Hogan knows when to save – or intercept – a ball passed from X
AS TOLD TO MEGAN SCHNEIDER
To intercept, or not intercept — that is the question. It has become increasingly common for teams to have a designated feeder behind the cage. Think Brooke Griffin for Maryland or Alyssa Murray for Syracuse.
But 2011 Orange graduate Liz Hogan knows all too well what to expect as a goalkeeper. Murray was a freshman
ATTACKER
If the attacker is right behind, be in the center of your cage in an athletic stance with your feet shoulder-width apart. Don’t be under the cage or out by the crease. Be 1-2 feet off the goal line and mirror the attacker. As she reaches goal line extended, then you’re on the pipe.
52 LACROSSE MAGAZINE »MAY 2016 HANDS
Place one hand at the top and one at the bottom of your stick. A lot of goalies have their stick in the air trying to pick off a pass that may not even come. That takes them out of position to make a save. Be balanced, so you can either pick off a pass or make a save.
when Hogan was a senior, and Hogan has carried that experience with her with the U.S. women’s national team. She is one of three goalies who will travel with Team USA to England this summer for a foreign tour in preparation for the 2017 FIL Women’s World Cup.
How do goalies decide whether to go for an interception when the ball is passed over their heads? “That’s really hard,” said Hogan, who led the Big East with a .489 save percentage as a senior. “It comes with practice. You need to figure out what your limits are.” Just like any defender, footwork drills like jump roping, ladders and quick steps back and forth over your stick or a line can help train a goalie with her quick turnaround to face an oncoming shot.
“A lot of youth goalies tend to overstep because they want to get there so fast,” she said. “The challenging part is attackers mostly take quick stick shots off feeds from behind. That’s why it’s so important to be balanced and see the ball the whole way.
“Chances are you will turn and make a step right away – and hopefully make a save right away.”
BALL
If you start worrying about what other attackers are doing, it distracts you from your main purpose of saving the ball. It’s really important for your teammates to realize that your focus isn’t about stopping a pass into the middle of the 8-meter.
TEAMMATES
When the ball is behind, let your seven other defenders take care of the other attackers. Your defenders will be talking. The only real communication from the goalie is the call when the ball is passed in, so your defenders can crash.
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©JOHN STROHSACKER
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