Goalie Girls

We played our last game against Red tonight. After a slow start due to Red having an insufficient number of players, the game went by quickly. The rain pelted down off and on, but it wasn't cold so no one was really miserable. It was a fairly uneventful game, unless you were the player beaned in the jaw by an errant ball, or the one who scored her first 2 goals of the season!

Molly and Caroline played goalie tonight. It was a good game to be goalie since the sun was not out and the sweat wasn't dripping down their backs! Watching a goalie in action can be deceiving. It is an easy position to criticize, but it is not an easy position to play. Here's a look at what the goalie has to do.

Sometimes a goalie gets to walk the ball into the field and then pass it to a teammate. This makes me tense. I always worry that it'll take the goalie too long to get back to the goal...we saw the UVA men score on another team when the goalie didn't make it back in time! You know he won't even forget that! Molly did great though. No worries!

Watching the goalie reminds me of the Dr. Seuss story The Zax. Sometimes the game just happens around the goalie - players running by, passing the ball, losing the ball, and then heading back down the field. If the the goalie's teammates are doing their job well enough the goalie shouldn't have much work to do at all.

That can make the position a lonely one!



The goalie always has to know where the ball is, and where it will go. She must anticipate where it will bounce and be there to stop it. Ball to the left.

Ball to the right.





Lucky for Caroline the shooter overshot the goal!






Watch the ball at all times.

Body block when necessary!


When Emma snatched the ball away from White, Caroline went back to relaxation mode. This was near the end of the game, and the ball didn't get to visit Caroline's end of the field too much more.

Oh, and we're still undefeated. I thought we won 7-2, but maybe not. It could have been 9-2. I stopped looking when it was clear that they couldn't catch up. But the best part is that all of the girls are playing so much better now than they were when the season started and have a much better understanding of the game.

They end each game with a cheer for the other team and the "good game" line-up. Each team, led by the goalie, lines up to high five the players on the other team. Usually the lines winds around and when they get to the point that they're slapping hands with their own teammates they get silly. Then it's time to move on to eating post-game snacks, cleaning up, loading up, and going home!