While Oregon women’s soccer has struggled to start its 2023 season, one positive aspect has been the play of goalkeeper Maddy Goldberg.
The Ducks are without a win through non-conference play where they went 0-6-2. Part of the issue has been that the team is welcoming a large number of new faces. Of the 29 players on the roster, 15 of them are freshmen.
Goldberg is in her third year with the program, but had only played in three games prior to this season. It hasn’t looked like her first season as a starting goalkeeper with the confidence and strong performances she’s had.
“Oregon produces good goalkeepers and it’s the environment here that makes them,” head coach Graeme Abel said following the season opener against Baylor in which Goldberg recorded seven saves. “She stayed committed to it and she did really well.”
Goldberg is not the first goalkeeper that has been a silver lining for a Ducks team with a losing record. Her predecessor, Leah Freeman, will go down as a program great.
Freeman transferred to Duke after spending three years with the Ducks. During that time, she broke multiple school records, including the lowest goals-against average (1.05). She became the program leader in shutouts (18) and was named Pac-12 goalkeeper of the year in 2022. Freeman set a new standard for what the level of goalkeeping should look like at Oregon.
“We have a really good goalkeeping environment and I give all credit to [Freeman] because we have a good relationship off the field,” Goldberg said. “So on the field that comes on. Whoever’s in goal, we root for them but at the same time in practice, it’s competitive. You know, we want each other’s spot.”
Goldberg has competed for the spot with Anna Solomon, Leah Parsons and Julia Richards. Even though Goldberg is the most experienced of the four, each of them has different strengths. Richards, who’s a sophomore, played the most minutes prior to the season. Solomon is a redshirt freshman and also has experience being in the squad in 2022. Parsons is a freshman but has a lot of experience playing at the youth international level for Canada.
The competition was good enough that Abel and his coaching staff still hadn’t named a starting goalkeeper until a few days before the 2023 campaign began. The other players are still fighting for that starting position despite Goldberg’s performances.
“Typically we take two [goalkeepers] on the road. We’ve been taking three of them on the road to keep the competition good,” Abel recently said. “So Maddy has been doing well but the three behind her have been pushing her as well.”
The other goalkeepers have helped Goldberg to continue to raise the level of her play during the season. Even though she’s tallied 43 saves so far this season, she still takes accountability for the shots she wasn’t able to stop.
“I mean, when things go wrong in the backline that’s on me too,” Goldberg said. “I’m the one organizing back there. So it needs to be better from all of us.”
Abel said that Goldberg has been good with overall shot-stopping and defending set pieces, but communication with her defenders needs to get better.
“I think that control overall over a backline and the space behind the backline needs to continue to improve,” Abel said. “Goalkeepers have to get a hold of their two center backs, get a hold of the two outside backs and make sure they can control the space between themselves and that back four.”
The Ducks’ attention now shifts to drastically improving their record in conference play. The chances of making the NCAA Tournament are currently slim, but a shot at Pac-12 glory is still within reach. But as Oregon looks toward the future, it needs the rest of the team to match the mentality of its goalkeepers.
