2/2012
LET”S HEAR IT FOR THE GOALIE BOYS
I have enjoyed seeing the goalie make a “comeback” in lacrosse in recent times. For years it seemed that goalies weren’t as important or dominant as they had been when I played “back in the day”. Eight or ten saves had been pretty a good one game effort there for a while. Now defenses are being designed so that a goalie can be more successful. There are plenty of goals being scored alright, by the new athletes and players as well as the modern technology that has pretty much transformed everything in life of course, not just a helmet or a stick, but the goalie position has found new ways to become a game force.
It is not as easy as it had been to open up a defense and get good shots from good angles, and close to the goal. It is difficult now to win with only individual offensive match-ups as the main goal scoring strategy. It is getting harder for an individual dodger to take over a game. Team defense is HERE, at least for now. Help is always coming. The goalie is seeing more shots that he has a chance to save, the so-called “Popcorn”.
I know I want our defense to “star” the goalie. We as a team defense want to dictate where shooters shoot from more than who actually shoots the ball. This concept can help the goalie a great deal as he sees shots from certain spots and improves at stopping them. I might feel differently if most every player we had to defend could shoot 90 mph on the run like those guys I saw on TV, er,…. but I might not.
In our defensive scheme I want the goalie to get most of the interviews, but he also better understand what makes him receive all that attention, because his defense surely must be working right for the goalie to be ‘Happy Savemore’.
