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HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER: Confidence counts for top goalies
BY TRAVIS LAZARCZYK, Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 09/07/2008

It was just another direct kick, from just outside the 18-yard box. Maranacook Community High School goalie Devin Gerrity had his defense lined up right where he wanted it.

When the Mt. View kick came, low and hard toward the left corner of the goal, Gerrity -- playing his first season in net in three years -- acted on instinct.

It was Gerrity's "I belong in this position" moment.

"I parried it with my left hand," Gerrity said. "I said, 'All right, I've got it back.' "

Now back for his second year in goal for the Black Bears, Gerrity has the traits of the other top high school goaltenders. A good goalie needs to be technically sound, with a long reach and a short memory. Above everything else, a keeper needs a deep reservoir of confidence.

"They have to have the ability to bounce back from a setback," Winslow girls soccer coach Scott Wood said.

In senior Beth Fisher, Wood has a goalie adept at shaking off a bad play and moving on. Wood points to a scrimmage earlier this season against Lawrence, when Fisher allowed a goal when a shot she normally stops slipped through her fingers. As soon as play resumed, Fisher considered the matter closed.

"Some goalies will dwell on that, and it's a nightmare," Wood said.

Added Richmond boys soccer coach Joe Scribellito: "I've seen that take kids out of games (mentally), and that can take teams out of games. ... If you're not paying 100 percent attention at all times, you give up easy goals."

When playing a position that might call for intense play a few moments a game, it could be easy to zone out, lose focus, and concentrate more on cloud formations than action 75 yards away. At Winslow, Wood makes sure to personally keep Fisher's head in the game.

"My job is to make sure she's ready," said Wood, who has coached the Black Raiders to numerous regional titles.

If a game is in hand, and Fisher hasn't been tested much, if at all, Wood will change personnel on the field to get Fisher some work.

"At that point, it's always a good time to challenger her and test her," he said.

Waterville's Taylor Hart stays sharp by coming out of the net and talking, either to set up the defense or to cheer on her teammates.

"Usually with our defense there's not a lot of shots," said Hart, who allowed just two goals last season as the Purple Panthers won the Eastern Class A championship. "Mainly I can be vocal. That's what I was taught. Position your defense. I try and talk as much as I can, even if it's not to position my defense."

Scribellito calls communication one of the strengths of Bruce Carver, the goalie for the defending Class D state champs.

"Communication is a pretty good trait to have in back. Bruce is always talking to them," Scribellito said.

Hart's coach, Ian Wilson, calls her a technically sound goalie, and that comes from practice, practice, practice.

"The key to being a good goalie is a lot of repetition," Wilson said. "She might only make five key saves in a game, but for every one of those saves, she's had hundreds of reps."

Hart recalled a save she made in the Class A state game last season. She didn't get a good look at the shot until it was almost on top of her, but Hart was able to parry it wide. The save was all reaction and muscle memory.

"That was really from practice and repetition," Hart said.

Hart has been playing in net since the second grade. For goalies like Gerrity and Winthrop's Anna Smithgall, who like Gerrity was a newcomer last season, athletic ability can only get you so far. Gerrity worked at goaltending during the summer, going to camps and studying the position.

"I never really had any fundamental training. I really feel I've improved. ... The big part of goaltending is working angles. I've really learned how to do that," said Gerrity, who played soccer in middle school before switching to golf his first two years of high school.

When Will Bardaglio, Maranacook's incumbent keeper last season, injured his finger in the summer, a group of soccer players recruited Gerrity and convinced him to come back.

"The soccer guys came up to me and said 'You should play,' " Gerrity said.

After all the clinics and camps and reps and practice, a goalie can be technically solid. But if the player is missing the killer instinct, which is a more ingrown trait, all the technical training may not matter.

"Goalies need a little bit of fearlessness, and that's a rare find in kids," Scribellito said.

Hart said she likes to dive, and Wilson said she's very good at rolling out of the dive into the save position. At Winslow, Wood sees Fisher do the same things in practice she does in games.

"Sometimes you have goalies who shy away from diving on the ground at practice," Wood said. "She's not like that."

When scouting for a goalie, Wood looks for the same things he looks for when auditioning somebody to take penalty kicks.

"Who wants to take it? When a goalie graduates, who wants to do it?" Wood said.

Before her junior year, Fisher approached Wood and asked if she should go to a goalie camp. Yes, Wood replied.

"I want someone who knows it's a tough job," Wood said, "but who wants it?"

Travis Lazarczyk -- 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

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