Overcoming a Goalkeeper's Worst Moment: Luke Mathieu

Luke plays for Byron High School and, perhaps most notably, is a life-long Watford fan. Luke opens up about a frustrating goal in the regional semi-final, how he’s tried to put it behind him, and a shining moment, despite the scoreline.

What was one of the worst moments in your playing career as a goalkeeper?

It was a regional semifinal on a miserable night. About 40 degrees with 25mph wind gusts. The opposing player started an incredible run from midfield and dribbled down to the right-hand side of my goal. He puts a looping cross into the box and the original trajectory of the cross is around the penalty spot. I take a step towards the spot to gather the rather routine-looking cross. That's when the wind took over and nestled the ball perfectly off the post into the corner of the goal. I was devastated that a rather routine-looking cross turned into the best goal of the year in my area.

How did you overcome the setback?

It was hard. We had played pretty well against a superior team and this goal broke my heart because we had 5-10 minutes of the first half left to keep them out and go into halftime with a tie game. At the halftime talk, I came out and tried to immediately forget about that mistake and encouraged my teammates around me that we were still in the game. That mistake was always in the back of my head for the rest of the game and we had trouble playing out of the back because of it. We stayed in the game for a long time, finally conceding two goals in the last 10 minutes on counterattacks after we sent out fullbacks further up the pitch.

I have not been able to change my routine in a competitive game yet because I haven't played a game since but I did adjust a couple things in my routine for my next training sessions and goalkeeper camps. I taped my fingers in reverse order. Instead of taping them from the thumb to my pinky, I did the opposite. I also have been thinking about a different warm-up routine before a game once I get there in a couple weeks, which I will implement when it comes.

What was one of the most successful moments you experienced as a goalkeeper? (This does not have to be related to the first question, although it can be. Simply recall a highlight of your career! It can be on or off the field, but ideally related to being a goalkeeper in some capacity.)

We were playing on a Saturday two hours away. Everything was going wrong that day. We left at 7 in the morning and we're stuck in traffic for about 45 minutes before finally getting to the field. We were playing a 3A school compared to us being 1A (meaning we were significantly smaller than the other team). They were so much better than us and not to mention, it was another miserable day. Pouring rain and 40 degrees. I promptly came out and made 26 saves during the game and only gave up 3 goals, when it should have been closer to 10.

Why was this moment was so important to you? Although there may be an individual or team award/accomplishment tied to this moment, please include the intangible aspects as well. Consider how the achievement made you feel and why it was so impactful. *

This was important to me because of the focus I had throughout the game. I could not afford to lose concentration or we would have lost by three times the margin we actually did. There were a couple saves I was really proud of that kept my team in the game at 1-0 and 2-0 down and in range of staying competitive with a team that was three times as better than we were. It gave me the confidence to talk more to my defense and lead the team in several different aspects. As a sophomore, this was huge for me and it catapulted me forward to have a really good rest of the year.

(We reached out to the coaches at Rock Island High School for video of the game but they never got back to us which was frustrating for me, especially after having that good of a game.)