Goalkeepers as Leaders – Ashlyn Harris

This story may have gone unnoticed within Women’s Professional Soccer, most definitely within the soccer world as the World Cup came to a close.  Goalkeepers are known as the generals on the field, they are mentally tough, organize their teams positioning, and are called upon to make game changing plays.  Sometimes we see goalkeepers wear the captain’s arm band because of their leadership as we’ve seen on Iker Casillas, Claudio Bravo, Noel Valladares, and Justo Villar.

On July 11th, the Washington Freedom were away playing against the FC Gold Pride and were short two assistant coaches due to personal reasons.  When head coach, Jim Gabarra was ejected from the game for arguing with the referee, former UNC goalkeeper, Ashlyn Harris stepped up and took initiative.  She was going manage the team for the rest of the game, which may not have ever been expected of the rookie back up goalkeeper.  Her reasoning behind her courageous actions, “We were just kind of sitting on the bench and he just kind of looked down the bench and I stood up and said I would take the substitution cards. He really didn’t point to anyone to be in charge. I thought it would be a good idea to take that responsibility because the other girls would probably end up playing.”

The Freedom fell just short with a 3-2 loss and are tied for 4th place in the WPS.