2015 NCAA Save of the Year

This year Everybody Soccer will be tracking the top saves from NCAA, focusing mostly on men's D-I but hopefully incorporating women's as well as lower D-II and D-III. At the end of the season, we'll have a big bracket for everyone to vote on the first official NCAA Save of the Year. If you have a suggestion, please get in touch by clicking the contact link in the black footer at the bottom of the page.

August 30th

While Purdue didn't pull out the win, Erika Yohn kept it close in overtime against Missouri with this dive admist the chaos.

Ohio State is thankful for recent transfer Chris Froschauer and his shot stopping ability, seen here against Binghamton at the 1:00 mark.

Tennessee's Julie Eckel holds a shot most goalkeepers would be thankful to tip away. Easier said than done.


August 28th

Oakland's Wes Mink gets back and up to tip the ball off the crossbar. Not your typical upper ninety save but important nonetheless.

Ideally we'd have a better camera angle on this redirection but it's what we have. Marco Velez saves South Carolina with this tricky ball.

Alyssa Giannetti makes two awkward but needed saves to keep Virginia from scoring against Cal Poly.

Can't have too many saves on one day. Andi Tostanoski makes a tough save look easy against Notre Dame.


August 27th

Michelle Craft and San Diego didn't pull out the win but she did chalk up this extension save for her resume.

 

August 23rd

Mimi Borkan keeps her head on a swivel with this double save against Massachusetts. Not the best quality but trust me they are two great saves.

Our first submission! William and Mary's Caroline Casey preserves the shutout with this fantastic save.


August 20th

Freshman Chase Therrien helps keep this shot out of the net for Incarnate Word.

August 15th

Lipscomb's Micah Bledsoe keeps Louisville to only one goal, with multiple big saves. You can catch most of the eight save performance here, including the one below.

August 14th

Senior goalkeeper Kyle Dal Santo gets up and away in an exhibition match against Xavier.


And here's a big ol' map of all the D-1 men's programs in NCAA. Click the drop down menu on the top left of the map to see all the conferences. You can see an enlarged version here.

2015 Preseason NCAA Goalkeeper Rankings

cover photo by Khoa Nguyen

Picking up from the end of last season's rankings, here are Everybody Soccer's preseason NCAA goalkeeping rankings, sorted by class. Ages may not be exact as some of their exact DOBs aren't listed but you get the idea.

#. Name (school) age

Seniors

1. Paul Blanchette (Loyola Marymount) 21.3
2. Matt Bersano (Penn State) 22.8
3. Zach Bennett (Michigan State) 21.6
4. Ashkan Khosravi (UC Riverside) 21.5
5. Alex McCauley (North Carolina State) 20.9
6. Wade Hamilton (Cal Poly) 20.8
7. Ryan Herman (Washington) 22.1
8. Matt Pacifici (Davidson) 21.9
9. Connor Sparrow (Creighton) 21.2
10. Chris Knaub (Bryant) 21.6

Notes: The top three return from PDL action and are looking ready to go this upcoming fall. Blanchette struggled to nail down the starting role at Loyola last fall but he should regain the number one role soon. Bersano is transferring from Oregon State to Penn State for his final year. Zach Bennett is looking for another strong run with Michigan State, who reached the quarterfinals last year. I interviewed Khosravi earlier this year. Of the rest, Hamilton is probably the most known as a USYNT product from the 2011 U17 team but the other five are more than capable to lead their schools into the final 48.

Juniors

1. Eric Klenofsky (Monmouth) 20.8
2. Grayson Rector (Belmont) 20.9
3. Alec Ferrell (Wake Forest) 21.3
4. David Greczek (Rutgers) 20.8
5. Ricky Brown (Colgate) 20.5
6. Andrew Epstein (Stanford) 19.5
7. Andrew Putna (UIC) 20.8
8. Nick Ciraldo (Cleveland State) 20.3
9. Andrew Tarbell (Clemson) 21.5
10. Will Steiner (Villanova) 20.9

Notes: Only four of these goalkeeper made the big dance last year so all the more reason to become familiar with these names now. Klenofsky leads the pack as an explosive 6'6" goalkeeper (watch here). Epstein carries the USYNT badge as the only 19 year old on the list. Coming from the Colorado Rapids academy, he is definitely playing above his grade. Red Bulls academy product David Greczek is looking help Rutgers get back above .500 this year. 

Sophomores

1. Evan Louro (Michigan) 19.5
2. Jeff Caldwell (Virginia) 19.4
3. Paul Christensen (Portland) 19.3
4. Ben Willis (Gonzaga) 19.5
5. Eric Dick (Butler) 20.5
6. Aitor Blanco (Radford) 20.5
7. Adrian Remeniuk (Wisconsin) 19.6
8. Bobby Edwards (Saint Joseph's) 19.5
9. Josh Weiss (Siena) 19.4
10. Ben Lundgaard (Virginia Tech) 19.8

Notes: Perhaps the most star-studded cast: Louro, Caldwell, and Christensen have all been with the U20s. Most of these goalkeeper are looking to establish themselves as the starter for their respective schools, riding the bench for most of the year last year. There will be some rough bumps in the road but the potential is clearly there for each goalkeeper. Remeniuk looks to tie down the starting spot in Wisconsin and (another) 6'6" goalkeeper, Bobby Edwards returns after a successful year with St. Joe's.

Freshmen

1. Elliott Rubio (Akron) 18.9
2. Justin Vom Steeg (UC Santa Barbara) 18.3
3. Craig Duggan (South Carolina) 19.3
4. Carter Richardson (Wake Forest) 18.9
5. Cameron Keys (La Salle) 18.5
6. Charlie Furrer (Stanford) 18.4
7. Austin Aviza (Syracuse) 18.4
8. Hunter Harrison (Oral Roberts) 19.7
9. Tucker Schneider (SIUE) 18.3
10. James Pyle (North Carolina) 19.8

Notes: Most of these goalkeepers won't start many games. (Two of them have their team's starters higher on this list.) Still, many will go on to have successful tenures with their schools and likely afterwords as well. Aviza probably has the best chance of starting of all the 18 year olds but he's still very young for the job. Harrison, who I interviewed back in March, is older and if he gets his feet under him he will thrive. Half of the group have MLS connections: Richardson (Columbus), Keys (Philadelphia), Furrer (Dallas), Aviza (New England), and Schneider (Colorado).