As a former goalkeeper, coach Stacy Strauss knows what it takes to play the position at the collegiate level. She has a checklist of skills she looks for when recruiting potential Bobcat net-minders.
Good hands
size shot-stopping ability ability in the air
communication (and) confidence.
So how many of these attributes did she find in freshman Mattie Liston?
All of them
Strauss said.
Liston, a native of Lakewood, Ohio, was one of three new goalkeepers this year and quickly set herself apart to earn the starting role. She became the first Ohio player since 1998 to start every game in the goal her freshman year.
We had a lot of opportunities in preseason for the goalkeepers to compete with each other
to see shots
to organize defenders and to deal with crosses
Strauss said. She proved herself pretty early on.
Through one season, Liston's accomplishments are impressive: six shutouts, a save percentage of .814 and a 1.03 goals-against average, all of which were the fourth-best single-season statistics in program history. She made the Mid-American Conference All-Freshman Team last week.
Five years ago, Liston had a much different objective when stepping foot on the soccer field. For most of the time she started playing soccer, she was a goalkeeper's worst nightmare: a forward.
I didn't start playing goalie until ninth grade
she said, adding that she was also listed as the backup goalkeeper on the team's roster.
But her role as a reserve ended when she enrolled at Magnificant High School. The varsity coach was in search of a goalkeeper, and Liston offered to play between the pipes. An after-practice audition landed her the starting role.
Being like 13 when I came in and playing varsity soccer
I had to just be confident in goal
because otherwise I wasn't going to be able to make saves or tell my teammates what to do
