Shot on the ground – Basket Catch

A basket catch is the most reliable technique for catching the shots on the ground.  A common mistake is for a goalkeeper to just stop the ball with his or her palms, but that habit tends to give up costly rebounds.  To do a basket catch for a shot on the ground – slightly bend your knees and turn your palms towards you/facing the sky.  Keep your elbows straight and pinkies together.  Keep your chest low to the ground and reach out for the ball with your hands and guide the ball into your chest.

Shot in the air, but under the goalkeeper’s chest – Basket Catch

The basket catch technique is used for both balls on the ground and balls in the air that are under the goalkeeper’s chest.  The technique doesn’t change whether the shot is in the air or on the ground.  You still want to use your hands to guide the ball securely into your chest.  Remember, as you reach out try to keep your pinkies and elbows together and attack the ball – don’t try to catch it as it hits your chest.

Shot at the goalkeeper’s chest or higher - Contour or “W” Catch

There are two primary techniques for catching a ball above your chest.  Your hands will either make a “W” shape – the tips of your thumbs will be close to each other and your index fingers will be pointing towards the sky.  The contour technique is slightly different, your wrists turn slightly in and your thumbs are almost pointing directly at each other.  Your index fingers will not point directly at the the sky or directly at each other, but right in between.  You’re almost making a diamond or triangle shape with your hands.  With both of these techniques, the majority of the work is coming from your thumb and index fingers.  The rest of your hand is used to support those fingers.

Justine Bernier, Sr. Alabama

Bernier’s career will be a tough act to follow.  She had 453 saves with a save percentage of .822.  Of her 29 wins, 21 were shutouts – that’s very impressive.

Aubrey Bledsoe, So. Wake Forest

Bledsoe made a name for herself last year when she stopped 3 pks in a ACC match against the favorite’s Maryland.  This year, she was the only goalkeeper named to the All ACC first-team and broke the record for single season shutouts with 14.  Her impressive 0.62 GAA is the third best in the conference.  She’ll be fun to watch in the Final Four.

Colleen Boyd, Jr. Oregon State

Boyd’s 0.68 GAA (3rd in the Pac-12) was a leading factor to her team’s 3rd place finish in their conference.  This season she was an All-Conference honorable mention and All-Academic honorable mention.  Throughout her career, Boyd has helped her team to three straight NCAA tournament berths.

Tara Campbell, Jr. Duke

Adrianna Franch, Sr. Oklahoma State

Bianca Henninger, Sr. Santa Clara

Despite battling injuries all season, when Henninger was in goal, she made it count.  Of her 18 starts, she only allowed 13 goals (that’s a 0.72 GAA) and she had 4 shutouts with 60 saves.  She was also named a preseason All-WCC selection.  She’ll make an excellent goalkeeper in the WPS.

Chantel Jones, Sr. UVA

Jones is the NCAA record holder for career shutouts with 47, 14 of those came this season.  She’s UVA’s career GAA leader and leads in minutes played.  She’s also Virginia’s first All-American goalkeeper (she was named to the 2010 4th team).

Natalie Kulla, Sr. Marquette

Kulla has a list of accomplishments including back to back Big East Goalkeeper of the Year awards and being named one of the finalists for the Lowes Senior Class Award.  This season she has 18 wins and ranks second on Marquette’s single-season list.  She also has a 0.79 GAA.

Emily Oliver, So. Stanford

Oliver leads the nation in GAA with 0.26 and is third in the country with a save percentage of .919.  This year she has racked up 14 shutouts and only allowed 5 goals in 1,761 minutes of play.  She was also named to the All-Pac 12 first team.  It will be exciting to watch her with more pressure during the Final Four.  

Aline Reis, Sr. UCF

An extra goalkeeper jersey (of a different color) -

No matter the level of soccer, if your game is officiated by a referee, he or she will not allow the goalkeeper wear the same color jersey as one of the teams.  It’s important that the referee is always able to distinguish the goalkeeper from the field players and if a goalkeeper has the same color jersey as one of the teams it may be difficult to do so.  I’ve had instances that the referee asks me to change my black goalkeeper jersey because it is too close to the opponent’s navy jerseys.  When you buy your second goalkeeper jersey, make sure it’s not the color of one of your team’s jerseys or close in color to your current jersey.  Usually if you don’t have an extra jersey to change into, the ref will ask you to wear a pinnie and that’s something that may mess with your game.

Sometimes you’ll be able to find a reversible goalkeeper jersey.  I’ve seen reversible goalie jerseys from many of the top soccer brands including reusch and Nike.  The knock on reversible jerseys is that they tend to to not keep cool as well and if you have your number printed on both sides, you’ll feel the stickiness of the number unless you wear a shirt underneath.

An extra pair of goalkeeper gloves -

If you want to take it a step further, carry a pair of gloves for dry field conditions and one for wet field conditions.  Some may say this is unnecessary, but it’s definitely not uncommon.  A goalkeeper should at least carry their practice gloves in their bag along with their game gloves mainly for what-if scenerios and if weather conditions are harsh, the goalkeeper can warm-up in the practice pair and change into the game pair for the actual game.  This will help keep the match gloves dry rather than getting soaked before the game starts.

Back to the wet weather goalkeeper gloves.  Don’t forget you can wear a pair of wet weather goalkeeper gloves on a sunny and dry day.  It’s just important to keep your gloves wet (as opposed to moist) during play – so you can keep a water bottle by the goal.

 A water bottle - How can you keep a water bottle by the goal if you didn’t bring one?!  When you watch professional soccer or even college soccer, you’ll always see a goalkeeper bringing a water bottle by the goal.  There’s many reasons for this – goalkeepers aren’t subbed out, you’ll never be able to get water from the bench unless it’s halftime.  Goalkeepers tend to talk the most on the field and spit on their gloves to keep them moist and extra tacky – this will dry out your mouth.  The third reason is that you can be your defenders’ savior when they only have 30 seconds to catch their breath before a corner kick – they’ll be able to get a quick sip of water from the goal (rather than being subbed or running to the side lines).

If possible, try to get a non twist water bottle.  The twisting caps are not the most forgiving to the foam on goalkeeper gloves.  Something with a pull top/squeeze work the best.

A different pair of cleats (firm ground, hard ground, or soft ground) - Similar to the reasoning behind packing an extra pair of gloves, it’s wise to pack an extra pair of cleats as well.  It’s even more wise to invest in a second pair of cleats that are for a different type of ground than your everyday pair of cleats.  If you tend to play on hard and dry grounds you may want a pair of firm ground cleats and hard ground cleats.  If it tends to rain a lot, soft ground cleats will make a great second pair of cleats.  It’s vital for a goalkeeper to have cleats with solid traction and to be confident that his or her cleats will get the job done.

Don’t rush off to buy your second pair of cleats just yet!  Many soccer shops will have both hard ground and soft ground cleats on sale before the soccer brands’ new releases.  Of course firm ground cleats will go on sale as well – there’s just no reason to buy the latest edition cleats for your back-up pair.

A small towel – Keeping a small towel in your soccer bag will pay dividends.  It will prolong your gloves’ lifespan (granted that you use the towel to clean off your gloves after each use) and it can help dry off your gloves during wet weather.  You may also want to keep a larger towel (the size of a beach towel) in your car for those practices and games when you’re extra dirty.  Just put it over your seat so you don’t dirty your car on your drive home.

The adidas Fingersave Allround Cech goalkeeper gloves are very similar to the adidas FS Allround glove – almost identical minus the color scheme.  So if you’re a Cech fan, but the green and purple is too loud for you – the orange version of the FS Allround glove might be perfect for you.  This is a top of the line glove from adidas – it performs in all field conditions (wet, dry, hard, soft, hot, and cool) and the palm is made out of two layers of foam rather than just one.  As a result, comfort and cushioning are improved.  The glove also features removable finger protection with a zippered backhand – some brands use a zippered backhand, but some still prefer velcro.  The glove also features a traditional cut with boxed fingers and breathable gussets.  The new allround glove retails around $135, but you can find the Cech glove on closeout for as low as $120.

The ridges in the gloves (black lines on the palm and red lines on the backend) provide a lot of flexibility when the goalkeeper tries to make a fist.  The gloves also feature reusch’s Duraguard durable foam patches on the high impact areas at the bottom of the palm.  I’m very curious to how the additional foam on the bottom of the palm adds to the durability of the glove as reusch is not the only glove brand with this feature.  The G1 ultrasoft grip is very natural meaning the latex has few impurities which provides a better grip since the foam is softer and more flexible.  I was also impressed with the material reusch used for the Keon’s wrist – it was the least bit restricting.

The reusch Keon Deluxe G1 Ortho-Tech goalkeeper gloves with finger protective are a bit pricey at $160, but they are the most comfortable reusch Ortho-Tech gloves I’ve ever tried on.  If you don’t need finger protective, I’d recommend not buying the Ortho-Tech’s and only spending $120.  Keep an eye out for the new colorways of the reusch Keon Deluxe G1 gloves – they are very cool and I expect to be very popular in the states.

This past weekend I was able to check out the newest goalkeeper gear and soccer cleats from all of the top brands including Uhlsport, reusch, and Joma and from up and coming brands Aviata and Storelli.  I have to say the protective gear from Storelli is awesome, especially as we head into our indoor soccer and futsal seasons.  Or for those of you lucky to play outdoors during the winter, you’ll need to gear up for the hard and almost frozen ground.

I’ve worn padded goalkeeper pants, jerseys, shorts and even padded compression shorts – I’ve never bought the same product twice.  There was always something I would change, especially with the padded goalkeeper compression shorts.  They were either too loose, not durable enough, or the padding will fall out after the first wash.  I gave a good look at the Storelli gear and it’s very well made and the padding is very innovative.  It’s not as thick as padding in goalkeeper pants and shorts, it’s thinner yet seems to have better absorption qualities.  Storelli’s gear is competitively priced with the top line gear from major brands like adidas, Nike, and Under Armour, but protective gear is the heart and soul of the company – I’d give them a shot this indoor soccer season.  The shirt pictured above is $80 and the sliders are sold for $65.  But, if you sign up for Storelli’s newsletter you get 20% off your purchase!  Check it out here!

And for those of you interested in the Aviata goalkeeper gloves (worn by MLS Champ Josh Saunders) I’ll have two product reviews coming your way in the next couple of weeks!

One popular goalkeeper question is do professional goalkeepers wear gloves with finger protection?  Generally speaking (and this being the short answer), the pros wear gloves with finger protection in practice and training, but wear the same glove without protective spines in games.  The reason why they do not wear goalkeeper gloves with finger protection during games is because of the flexibility factor.  The one drawback to gloves with finger protection is that some flexibility is taken away.  These type of goalie gloves have come a long way (any keepers remember the first edition of the adidas Fingersaves?), but they still are a bit more stiff than regular gloves.

How do you feel about gloves with finger protection?  Do you wear gloves with spines in practice because of the quantity of shots, but choose to wear gloves without spines during games because you focus more on quality of saves?