Seniors
1. Nigel Van Haveren (FIU, Netherlands)
2. Wyatt Nelson (UCLA)
3. Rowan Schnebly (Stanford)
4. Seth Wilson (UNC Greensboro)
5. Devin Armstrong (Seton Hall)
6. Scott Williams (UC Irvine)
7. Andrew Samuels (Princeton)
8. Justin Stewart (Oregon State)
9. Marius Helias (Rider, France)
10. Owen Cornell (UIC)
11. Zack Andoh (California)
12. Jadon Bowton (Washington)
13. Kael McGowan (Southern Indiana)
14. Jonathan Munteanu (USC Upstate)
15. Levi Bieber (Seattle)
16. Eddie DeMarco (Louisville)
17. Cal L’Hommedieu (Washington U, D3)
18. Trevor Maloney (VCU)
19. Ky Mani Dade (Loyola Marymount)
20. Alex Svetanoff (Charlotte)
Storylines to Watch: Just so everyone is on the same page: there are no serious 25 year old goalkeepers in the college ranks. Without going roster-by-roster, there’s likely around a single-digit number of goalkeepers at that age in all of Division 1 soccer. However, they’re not playing college soccer at that age because they’re an amazing talent. The only reason a 25 year old goalkeeper is still playing college soccer is that it’s the only level that will take them, not to mention they’re a year or so away from retirement. College is the end of the line for these goalkeepers because they’re barely at the level, not way above it.
That said, it doesn’t mean there aren’t goalkeepers who took a winding path to get here. Armstrong, Williams, Stewart, Munteanu, and Svetanoff hit the transfer portal in hopes of finding a good springboard to wrap up their collegiate careers with.
Expect to see Schnebly, Wilson, Samuels, Andoh, and, of course, reigning national champion Bowton in postseason play. There aren’t many “easy” games in Division I, so even though they’ll be on one of the better squads more times than not, their teams will still need to see big saves throughout the season, not just in November.
Although there are some smaller schools to keep tabs on - McGowan and L’Hommedieu doing their best to put their universities on the map - watch out for Van Haveren and Wyatt to set the tone for the season. Both have an immensely high ceiling but 2025 was a tumultuous season for both goalkeepers. If they can get back to the good run they had before, they’ll be All-American candidates. If not, they’ll end up being some of the biggest “what ifs” in collegiate goalkeeping since the turn of the century.
Juniors
1. Blake Kelly (Notre Dame)
2. Matisse Hebert (UCF, Canada)
3. Jonah Mednard (Wake Forest)
4. Kyle Durham (Connecticut)
5. Matthew Hudson (Creighton)
6. Charles DeMarco (Georgetown)
7. Alastair Hafner Schnee (Holy Cross)
8. Sebastian Stanaj (Oakland)
9. Philip Hovers (Loyola Marymount)
10. Declan Finnegan (IU Indianapolis)
11. Kyle Jansen (Syracuse)
12. Leo Ledin (Virginia Tech, Sweden)
13. Aleksandar Kolar (Cleveland State)
14. Marten Brink (College of Charleston, Germany)
15. Connor O'Keefe (Loyola Maryland)
16. Carlito Saylon (Tulsa)
17. Kai Darrell (Williams, D3)
Storylines to Watch: Not a whole lot to build off of with this group. Although there are some standouts, the class is largely filled with goalkeepers off the radar at either smaller schools or ones who haven’t quite got the play time to really make the waves they’re looking for. Jansen entered college with a lot of buzz but still hasn’t really capitalized on it yet, while goalkeepers like Ledin and Kolar showed impressive moments over the past couple of years but both are so far off scouts’ radars it’s hard to really tout them.
Kelly, Mednard, and Durham are the clear American standouts with pro potential but scouts are going to want to see them all be more than just pure shot stoppers, with the most egregious example being Mednard’s amazing triple save yet his reluctance to handle aerial service in Wake’s 5-4 loss to SMU to end their season. It’s one thing to be a top college goalkeeper, it’s another thing to be a top goalkeeper in even just the USL.
It’s a polarizing group, none of whom have really stood up and said “I’ll take it from here.” Hopefully in 2026, we get some real contenders for potential USMNT prospects. Otherwise it’ll just end up being another proto-MLS Next Pro group that gets lost in the wash in a few years.
Sophomores
1. Jonathan Evans (SMU)
2. Judewellin Michel (Wisconsin, Canada)
3. Luke Shrivers (Wisconsin)
4. Aleksander Kapciak (Seattle)
5. Nick Bishop (Portland)
6. Cole Kowalski (Notre Dame)
7. Alex Provost (Denison, D3)
8. Jacob English (Southern Indiana)
9. Payton Roehrich (Fort Hays St., D2)
10. Keegan O'Brien (Cal St. Dom. Hills, D2)
11. Owen Barnett (Wake Forest)
12. Nash Skoglund (Coastal Carolina)
13. Joseph Grossman (Connecticut)
14. Owen Beninga (UC Santa Barbara)
15. Keller Krieger (Grove City College, D3)
16. John W. Smith Jr. (Holy Cross)
17. Jayden Quemada (Northeast CC, JUCO)
Storylines to Watch: Where the juniors have dropped the ball in establishing themselves, the sophomores have picked up the slack, albeit from all over the country. Lower division goalkeepers showed well for themselves last fall from D2 to D3 to JUCO. Admittedly, the lower levels don’t have a great history of continuing development for goalkeepers, so don’t be surprised if any of these goalkeepers transfer to the D1 game for more exposure. But as for right now, they’ve shown well.
Obviously the goalkeeping battle at Wisconsin will be one to watch as the Badgers brought in Canadian Judewellin Michel to challenge returner Luke Shrivers for the number one spot. Usually head coaches don’t just casually bring in an international goalkeeper so maybe the competition is already decided, but keep an eye out regardless.
Other goalkeeping battles to watch include Seattle (Bieber-Kapciak), Notre Dame (Kelly-Kowalski), Wake Forest (Mednard-Barnett-Syrett), Connecticut (Durham-Grossman), and Holy Cross (Schnee-Smith). Although some of those schools have fairly established starters, expect to see the underclassmen find minutes here and there to make a case for themselves, if not outright take the starting position like Florida State’s women’s team did last fall.
Skoglund leaves South Carolina for Coastal and English was awkwardly announced as a transfer to Kentucky, despite being back at Southern Indiana (or never left?). However, it’s Evans’ move to SMU that stands out the most. The former Penn State freshman took the starting spot and ran with it last fall, conceding just 18 goals in 14 games for the Nittany Lions. But a move to SMU propels the Mustangs into an even more favorable position for a postseason run.
Freshmen
1. Quinn Syrett (Wake Forest)
2. Lucas McPartlin (Saint Louis)
3. James Romero (Oregon State)
4. Zach Cielewich (Maryland)
5. Kai Zeruhn (Columbia)
6. Felix Huebner (Loyola Maryland)
7. James Rhodes (Pittsburgh)
8. Jan Hejna (Harvard)
9. Cooper Roney (Loyola Marymount)
10. Nathan Juillard (Santa Clara)
Storylines to Watch: Although the same sentiment from the women’s ranking applies (TLDR: preseason rankings for first years are a crapshoot), the men’s game has an added wrinkle that the women’s game doesn’t have. Goalkeepers like McPartlin and Cielewich have foreign talent ahead of them on the depth chart. Although some fans love to tout overtly nationalistic complaints of foreigners taking Americans’ spots, our top goalkeepers actually are propelled forward with the foreign infusion.
Consider that the top 1% of American college players are given a higher level of play because of the international talent raising the level. They aren’t simply handed a starting spot they get to walk into: they must earn it. And although the bottom 99% admittedly lose playing time at these schools, there are 1500 colleges that would still love to have them, not to mention the hundreds of USCCS teams around the country as well.
Sure, it’d be nice if Americans were filling every spot and playing at a high level, but if the international players were removed, the overall level plummets and our top prospects are worse off. And ultimately, if our top prospects can’t compete with Europe’s washouts, then they’re not top prospects to begin with.
For those complaining about Americans not getting enough chances, raise your complaints to the professional level, not the college ranks.
Past Collegiate Goalkeeper Rankings
2025: Preseason and Final
2024: Preseason and Final
2023: Preseason and Final
2022: Preseason and Final
2021: Preseason and Final
2020: Preseason and Final
2019: Preseason and Final
2018: Preseason and Final
2017: Preseason and Final
2016: Preseason and Final
2015: Preseason and Final
2014: Preseason and Final