LGR 236: The Art and Mindset of Goaltending with Michigan Goalie Erin O'Grady

Have you ever wondered what it takes to stand firm between the posts, facing down the intensity of competitive lacrosse? Michigan's starting goalie Erin O'Grady joins us to share her personal journey from an inventive second-grader avoiding running to a strategic visionary on the lacrosse field. Her candid reflections on the benefits of playing multiple sports and the role they've played in shaping her as an exceptional athlete provide a fascinating look into the makings of a lacrosse great. We also unpack the collective spirit of the game, reminding us that victory is not just about the goalie's prowess but a team's unified effort.

Erin's narrative continues as she describes the crucial support from her parents, who knew little about lacrosse, but understood the universal language of encouragement in sports. She takes us behind the scenes of a young athlete's life, from selecting the right club to handling the spotlight's pressure with grace and resilience. Listeners will be inspired by Erin's "eyes on the prize" attitude and how her high school experience at St. Anthony's became a pivot towards her aspiration of playing Division 1 lacrosse. Her story is punctuated by the influential figures in her life, including her role models Devon Wills and Asa Goldstock, who helped shape her approach to goaltending.

Lastly, we explore the intricate techniques and mental frameworks that define the life of a lacrosse goalie. Erin offers insights into breathwork and the grounding influence of faith, highlighting how these practices enhance focus and identity both on and off the field. She gives us a play-by-play on key moments in the goalie's box, where quick reflexes and mental toughness are paramount. It's all about bouncing back from setbacks with a short-term memory, and Erin exemplifies this with her resilience and unwavering spirit. Join us to catch the adrenaline-fueled moments and the profound wisdom that comes with protecting the goal.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Well, it's a pleasure to welcome to the podcast. Michigan starting goalie having a great season, erin O'Grady. Erin, welcome to the show.

Speaker 2: 0:08

Hi, thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 1: 0:09

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm so glad we're able to do this mid-season. As I said before we hit record, you're having a phenomenal season, congratulations. I'd like to hear the story of the first time you jumped into goal. Do you remember that?

Speaker 2: 0:25

I don't think I remember the exact first time I hopped into goal, but I knew it was pretty early on when I started playing. I started playing lacrosse in kindergarten first grade, when you start to learn all the basics but probably hopped in goal for the first time maybe around second grade. The funny story around that is that I didn't like to run so I volunteered to hop in goal. But another piece of that is I also I played baseball when I was a kid. I refused to let my parents sign me up for softball and I was a catcher in baseball, so I just have always really liked seeing that perspective of the field. So I think that's a big piece of why I hopped into goal.

Speaker 1: 1:04

Yeah, I got to be honest. There's a big piece of why I hopped into goal. Yeah, I gotta be honest. There's only a couple reasons. I think people become goalies and not not liking the running is like a huge factor. It's a huge factor because we still do the running as a goalie but, like you know, there's drills where, like the attacker middies are running all the way during the drill and you, as a goalie, just staying there making the saves.

Speaker 1: 1:23

You know oh, yeah, yeah, oh yeah um, so you grew up uh long island, right, um, sort of a hotbed of lacrosse. In second grade you're like, all right, I'm gonna be goalie. Um, how do you do you have success right away? I guess, since you're, with your baseball background at least, you're used to uh projectiles coming at you and kind of moving towards it as opposed to like moving away from it. Right, but how do you go about learning how to make saves?

Speaker 2: 1:48

Um, I had some great coaches growing up, just that that taught me the basics. Um, I think the biggest part is when I was little. I wasn't, um, super invested in lacrosse just yet. Like I said, I played a bunch of other sports so, um, I really focused on just learning the basics. Uh, from my coaches that, from the early days, tended to be some of my friends' dads that would learn some drills and bring it to practice to show me. Yeah, I think I found a little bit of success early on but, again, like, I was mainly focused on the fun piece and playing as many sports as possible.

Speaker 1: 2:21

Yeah, that's a. That's a huge. That's a very important thing, right, especially as a youth, to play as many sports as possible. Yeah, that's a, that's a huge. Uh, that's a very important thing, right, especially as a youth, to play as many sports as possible. I encourage goalies all the time who asked me like well, how do I be more athletic as a goalie, right? And? And really, the answer is play other sports. Um, wouldn't you agree? I mean what, what, what else did you play, and how do you think that those other sports, sort of like helped you ultimately in lacrosse?

Speaker 2: 2:48

I played baseball. Like I said, growing up I stopped around like fifth or sixth grade with that. I played basketball and volleyball. But I would just do a lot of other things just for fun. Growing up we would play on the street my brother and all the neighbors and stuff, and yeah, so I would, just I would do anything I could. I loved just being outside and playing as many sports, but basketball and volleyball were probably the main two that I played besides lacrosse.

Speaker 1: 3:13

Yeah, basketball, a lot of the footwork, I think, translates very well into lacrosse, goalie and especially even defense. If we're doing another podcast about lacrosse women's defense, it's very similar to basketball in my opinion.

Speaker 2: 3:26

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:27

Um and then, and then what was it? Oh, volleyball, yeah, and I think just that, like jumping and explosiveness, uh, is incredibly helpful in that. In that motion we need to make as lacrosse goalies, right.

Speaker 2: 3:38

Yeah, that's huge for goalies. So that was just another piece that I did mainly for fun. Um, I just really like this sport but, yeah, a lot of those skills really translate well into lacrosse.

Speaker 1: 3:48

Yeah, what would you say is your favorite part about being the goalie?

Speaker 2: 3:53

There's a lot of things. Like I said, I love the vision of the field. I love having a different perspective from other people. I honestly love the pressure. I I uh like being that last line of defense and, um, yeah, being right in the middle of all of those high pressure situations is where I really love it interesting.

Speaker 1: 4:17

What would you say to a young goalie who maybe, um is not liking the pressure at the moment or, said another way, feels a lot of anxiety because all that pressure is on her?

Speaker 2: 4:31

Something that I'm still trying to learn, that my coaches tell me too, is that they have to get through 11 other people to get to you. So goals that go in are not 100% your fault and that's why it's the team sport because there are so many other pieces on the field that are important that you can't win or lose a single lacrosse game based off of one person on the field.

Speaker 1: 4:51

Yeah, yeah, I like that. It is a team game. At the end of the day there's a lot of pressure, a lot of spotlight on the goalie. I think the goalie can have so much influence on the game and I do like the attitude of, like you know, they got to get it by me, like I'm gonna own. But at the end of the day it is a team game and I mean I'm sure you've had games where you've made I don't know two, three, saves and maybe you guys won right, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1: 5:15

And then you, and then some games you have, uh, 15 saves and you win and, like you, you're the star. So I think it kind of goes both ways yeah, exactly so yeah, that's yeah that's why, sorry, go ahead. No, no, go ahead.

Speaker 2: 5:29

No, it's. I was just going to say that's why, like, I really value like, the attack on our team, because there are games that we don't, defensively, might not have our best day, or me personally, I don't have my best day. So I think just valuing all pieces of the field and both ends and just working together to make each other better, I think is super important.

Speaker 1: 5:49

Yeah, yeah. I remember a very specific game that just came to mind when you said that where I think we won like I'm going to say, 25 to 22. And it was just like there was a goal like every single, every single possession.

Speaker 1: 6:01

And I wasn't making any saves, but luckily that offense can bill you out. So for sure, Um, there you go. Uh, what about, you know, when you're now growing up and you start to get serious about lacrosse? Or I guess like, at what age did you really get start to get serious about lacrosse and what did that? What did that look like for you?

Speaker 2: 6:19

Um, I started to get serious about lacrosse in sixth grade and for me that was joining a summer club team. I really wanted to continue playing lacrosse over the summer and it looked like every girl in my area was either on a team already or joining one at that time. So, yeah, I joined. My first club that I was on was Top Guns, all on island, so I joined that. I had an amazing experience with them. I made some really really great friends and had a few great summers there. So, yeah, joining that club team would turn into a year-round commitment that just helped me grow as an athlete but also just continue enjoying it.

Speaker 1: 6:54

Yeah, what went into that process to select a club?

Speaker 2: 7:01

Honestly, my parents weren't lacrosse people at that time. We just heard from like our town that Hopkins was a great club and we should um try out for it, and I made a team and um I just went for it. We didn't know a ton about the different clubs at that point. We obviously learned as the years went on. But at that point, um, it was pretty close to my house and had a good reputation and, um, we decided that that would be the best fit for me at that time, Got it.

Speaker 1: 7:27

Got it. You mentioned I think you just mentioned that your parents weren't big lacrosse. Maybe they didn't play lacrosse right. How did they go about then supporting a daughter who's now getting really serious about lacrosse? I think a lot of parents want to know the answer to that one. I think a lot of parents want to know the answer to that one.

Speaker 2: 7:46

I'm sure it wasn't easy for them to be schlepping my brother and I all over the place. He played sports as well. He was not a lacrosse player, he was a baseball player. But yeah, I'm sure it wasn't easy for them to be going here, there and everywhere with us. But they wanted to help us accomplish our dreams and just do anything in their power to make it possible for us to continue playing sports and just invest in any activity that we really like. So I have so much appreciation and love for them for all that they did growing up and continue to do now. But yeah, they just whatever we were interested in, they really dove in headfirst and supported us.

Speaker 1: 8:25

Yeah, what about on the mental side? I mean, I imagine you know lacrosse goalie can have its ups and downs.

Speaker 2: 8:31

Did you ever get?

Speaker 1: 8:31

back into that car and be like mom. That's it. I want to quit.

Speaker 2: 8:36

I don't know if I ever got to a quitting spot, but my parents are really my sounding board for a lot of that stuff. I talked to them every single day. So, yeah, there was times where I didn't have great games and I knew I was upset, but I was really lucky that I knew what I was upset about a game. My mom and my dad would pick out like maybe the one or two good pieces from that game and then really play on that. So, um, there was never any pressure for me to perform or pressure for me to want to play lacrosse, but there was just always like unconditional support from them. So, um, yeah, to make sure that I like still knew that one bad game doesn't define me as an athlete, and they were always like, um, looking out for me and just trying to pick out any good piece of a game, even if it was a really bad one yeah, and there's always something great, you know whether it's like a great outlet pass or like chasing out a shot or a great save.

Speaker 1: 9:28

I mean, typically you can always pull out at least multiple, multiple like good things. So that's cool, that they're that they were, uh, that they were able to do that. What about growing up? Did you, um, were you watching a lot of lacrosse? Were there like some lacrosse goalies that you really like to like to watch and kind of analyze their game?

Speaker 2: 9:46

Oh yeah, oh yeah. So my favorite, my favorite goalie growing up was Devin Wills. She was sick and I just loved her creativity. I loved how athletic she was and able to come out of the cage and make these awesome plays and momentum shifting plays and, yeah, she was awesome to watch, watch and, as I grew up a little bit in high school, my favorite goalie to watch was asa goldstock on syracuse oh yeah um, her creativity in the clear and just how consistent and solid she was in cage was so cool and I don't know, maybe one of these days I'll try a btb cleared like her, but uh, that was one of the yeah, the coolest things to to watch yeah, you got to.

Speaker 1: 10:22

Um, you got to up the swagger level. If you're going to go, btb clear, I mean that's one thing I haven't watched. I'll be honest, I haven't watched too much. Devin Wills uh games. I mean I've had her on the podcast and she's presented the goalie summits and she's totally awesome. I've watched a lot of Asia Asa Goldstock games and her swagger is like if you could play with that level of confidence, you're doing well. You're doing well, right yeah for sure.

Speaker 1: 10:46

And she's awesome too, asa, cool. So Asa and Devin Wills talk to me about your recruiting process. So summer of sixth grade is like all right, I'm going to get serious about lacrosse. Join the club team. When do you start thinking about playing D1 lacrosse? Yeah?

Speaker 2: 11:08

um, probably, when I got into middle school, um, when I was in eighth grade I was able to play for the high school team. So I started to recognize like, oh, maybe I'm actually pretty good at this thing. And, um, I was had a lot of, uh, idols growing up, of girls that I really love to watch and I think, um, for me, if I want to do something, I want to do it to the best of my ability. So for that that was going D1. So I was just that was my goal from day one. My parents, we had this thing. It was eyes on the prize all the time. So, whether that meant going to a tournament or a recruiting camp or a training camp and I had to miss like hangouts or friends' birthday parties or anything, there was always the eyes on the prize.

Speaker 2: 11:51

So, um, yeah, when I was in eighth grade I got moved up and then my ninth grade year, I went to St Anthony's, which is just full of lacrosse talent, and I was able to really grow there. Um, but, yeah, the recruiting process. I think our year was probably the first year that the September 1st rule was fully in effect. So, um, I did have some like, I had a bunch of phone calls on September 1st and I had a bunch of visits throughout the whole fall, but some things fell through, some things I wasn't super excited about. So I I think it was November, pretty late into the game. I just sent out a bunch more emails to schools that I was interested in that I hadn't heard back yet. Michigan was on that list, so I visited Michigan in December of my junior year.

Speaker 2: 12:36

So again, pretty late and just fell in love with the campus immediately. But I think the biggest piece for me throughout the whole recruiting process was I didn't jump at anything and I looked at every single option that I had. I looked at Division I, II and III. I looked at every single option that I had. I looked at division one, two and three. I looked anywhere in the country. I just wanted to really find the best fit for me and what was going to fit my academic goals primarily, while also like allowing me to continue playing lacrosse.

Speaker 1: 13:08

Love it. Yeah, I love that. I love that lesson of of eyes on the prize. Um, cause, it's so easy to say to yourself that I want to be a division one athlete, I want to be a division one goalie. And then all of a sudden, like friend's birthday parties on Saturday, and you're like man, I really want to go to that, right. So you really you know, if you really want to be a division one athlete, there are certain sacrifices that you're going to have to make and you got to be okay with that Right.

Speaker 2: 13:36

A hundred percent. Yeah, yeah, I would have a kid a little bit. A lot of my friends in high school didn't want to play in college. So I remember just like leaving a really good friend of mine to be 16 around, like maybe 11. And I cause I had to wake up at five the next morning to go drive to Pennsylvania for a camp and they were like they understood, but it was like, oh, you got to leave already, kind of thing. So like just there were sacrifices that needed to be made in order to, um like, achieve my goals love it, love it, so you get to get to Michigan, I, I guess.

Speaker 1: 14:09

First of all, how would you describe your style of goalie play?

Speaker 2: 14:16

It has evolved over the years. I think in high school I was a super active goalie. I would come out a lot. I would run the ball up 30 yards before I made a clear kind of thing. So I was super active in high school and I think when you get to college you know immediately that the speed of the game has changed. So, um, I reeled that in a little bit and just really focused on um, making the saves in the cage. So I play a pretty low to the goal line. I'm not not on a high arc and, um, I step at like the 45 angles. Um, and yeah, I'm still. I'm trying to integrate more of that uh active goalie back into my game this year. Um, as I've gotten like, uh, more acclimated to the speed of the game, that's definitely come back love it.

Speaker 1: 15:10

And what about? What about your stance? Did you, we, did you always stand? I have a picture I'm gonna share in a second, but I see a lot of ariel ariel weisman in that oh yeah, you kind of learn learn that stance from her.

Speaker 1: 15:21

Did you have that sort of? If I? I'll share the picture because it's very, um, it's very unique. You know, the hands are like pretty low and kind of off to the side. Um, there, there we go. Can you see that picture? Yep, yeah, cool. So yeah, like hands kind of, you know, pretty low off to the side but relaxed, I like it. Um, top hand very loose. Talk to me about, yeah, I mean, talk to me about that particular stance.

Speaker 2: 15:44

For sure. So yeah, top hand is shoulder level. Um, and I honestly just let the stick sit in my top hand. I try not to grip it too much. Um, I think for me that allows me to be a lot more explosive and not get too tense as I'm um trying to make a save, especially on my like off stick side. It allows me to explode a lot faster.

Speaker 1: 16:04

Yeah, I was just so. So it's literally just kind of sits in there, the palm is open, um, and then, at what point though, do you do you? Do you grip it kind of as the shots coming in?

Speaker 2: 16:14

yeah, as the shots coming, as I see the girl put her shoulders back, about to throw, I get a little bit tighter, um, I think that's also just an instinct thing. I get a little bit tighter as they're about to shoot. Um, but yeah, for the most part my bottom hand is super loose. My top hand is really just sitting there waiting for a save. You could probably see me kind of like shake out my arms a little bit and that's maybe if I'm getting too tense, that's me like resetting back into. Okay, relax your arms, relax your upper body.

Speaker 1: 16:38

Yeah, love it. Love it Cool and stop sharing there.

Speaker 2: 16:43

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 16:44

And then so that I mean, but that was something that you saw Ariel do, and maybe even you played with Mira too, right, Mira Shane?

Speaker 2: 16:50

I did not, unfortunately do, and maybe even you played with Mira too, right, mira Shane, I did not, unfortunately. All right, I do know her and, sorry, this past weekend she was at both Rutgers and UPenn and she's incredible. She's one of the best humans I know.

Speaker 2: 16:59

But um, agreed yeah, I was able to play with Ariel my freshman year, when she was a fifth year and, yeah, I definitely learned a lot from her. Um, and our coach's style is very similar to the way that Ariel plays and the way I started to learn. So, um, there were little tweaks that were made to my game my freshman year from my coaching staff. So, um, I really depended on her to help me make that transition a little bit easier, so I would just watch her, like during warm-up.

Speaker 1: 17:26

I would watch.

Speaker 2: 17:27

My stance and my feet were a little bit different. Um well, they wanted me to start playing a little bit um different, maybe um smaller, um not as wide of a stance. So I would seriously just watch her and the way that she exploded to the ball in a lateral motion instead of like out towards the ball. And I I learned so much from just watching.

Speaker 1: 17:47

Yeah, um, and that's smart, right, like, as you're a freshman, a sophomore, you're an underclassman on the team. There's a lot to be learned, right, a lot to be learned. And then you know, now you're a junior, now, yeah, and it's your time and you're, you're, you're balling out. I mean, I looked at the, looked at the stats before we started 65% save percentage, just having some, some amazing games, anything that you've done differently going into this year, or you think, you know, you think it's just kind of the culmination of, of, of everything.

Speaker 2: 18:19

I definitely think my mental game changed this year. I think I approached this year differently than I have in years past. My freshman year all I wanted to do was learn. I knew I had three older goalies in front of me my freshman year so I was like this is going to be awesome, I'll just learn so much. And that's what I did, and I was able to step in a few games. But Ariel had an incredible season my freshman year. So that was just so cool to see and be a part of goalie world for that Last year, I think where I went wrong a little bit is I was looking way too far into the future and stopped focusing on the day-to-day as much as I probably should have.

Speaker 2: 19:01

So that was the major shift that I made this year was I really adopted the mentality of winning the day and getting better in the weight room and on the field every single day, as opposed to looking too far down the line to season and where the starting lineup is going to shake out. I really didn't think about that until the beginning of February and, yeah, I would tell my friends would ask me like oh, do you know what's going to happen? Are you going to play a lot this year and I was like, honestly, I don't really know, and I'm just focusing on the rest of this week Like that'll happen when it happens and for right now, I'm just going to try and get better today, um, in any way that I could.

Speaker 1: 19:34

Yeah, that's smart. That's smart Cause I think, um you know, focusing down the road too much can cause a lot of that, that anxiety, right, you know especially when it's out of your control. I mean you can kind of influence whether you start, but ultimately the coaches are making making the choice and all you can do is just focus on getting better on that particular day.

Speaker 2: 19:54

Um, that's cool I love that.

Speaker 1: 19:55

Any other mental game lessons you want to share with us right now that you think are are have really helped you.

Speaker 2: 20:02

Um, we do a lot of breath work here, which is not something that I uh was super uh used to before I got to college, but yeah, take me through an exercise here, all right. Okay, we call it box breathing. We're actually really fortunate. I don't know if you know who she is, but Emily Perrin comes in, works with our team.

Speaker 1: 20:21

I know Emily very well. I've had her on the podcast and she's awesome.

Speaker 2: 20:25

Yeah, she's awesome. We're really fortunate that she gets to work with us throughout the year, so she does a lot of yoga with us, which is awesome for our bodies. But the breath work, the one that I use the most, is we call box breathing, and it's four seconds in you hold at the top for four seconds, four seconds out, and then hold before you breathe in again.

Speaker 2: 20:42

So I think those deep, full breaths that we talk about just after I landed a goal or maybe before starting draw, that's like how I usually calm myself down. For me also, just a big thing is I'm I'm a Catholic, so I pray a lot during games and that really helps to settle me and, yeah, that's something that really works for me, that I try to utilize every single day, and especially during games every single day, and especially during games.

Speaker 1: 21:13

Awesome On the breathing. So when, right after you give up a goal, you'll do, you'll do, you'll do a box breath, or, like before a game, you'll do a box breath, or what? When specifically might you use that?

Speaker 2: 21:21

Yeah, usually before the starting drop and like when you're feeling all jittery and yeah, after I let in a goal Really try not to get too down on myself most of the time, but yeah, just as a reset I just like to feel the air going into my body and my stomach and just really just like getting big and then releasing everything. So sometimes it's not always the full box breathing if I just want something quick, but yeah, I've definitely done that. It's nice when we might have a long offensive possession and I get a chance to do that.

Speaker 1: 21:57

Yeah, yeah, because I think when you get nervous or you give up a goal, so often your breath gets so short and that contributes to it. And so I think, breathing with intention, whether it's that box breath of a four count inhale, hold for four, four count exhale, hold for four, um, or something else, right it's, it's going to help you, uh, calm those nerves.

Speaker 2: 22:19

And then the faith the faith.

Speaker 1: 22:21

I like that a lot. We haven't talked about that too much on the podcast I think I had one other goalie who mentioned that but how does that, um, how does that work? How does that look like for you? Is it, is it so like you'll do a prayer before the game, or just what? What is the sort of the mindset?

Speaker 2: 22:38

that helps you in that. For that, yeah, I think one thing that I started to really recognize this year is that my worth and my identity is not rooted in how I play lacrosse, but it's rooted in Jesus, which is has been like a really freeing feeling and, yeah, before games, really fortunate to start leading a Bible study this year through this club called Athletes in Action, and it's really taken over. A big part of our team and about 15 or so girls every week come and we just talk about the Bible and whatever we're reading that week and, um, me and those girls say a prayer before every single game and whoever else wants to join if you're just interested, anybody is welcome, obviously Um, and then for me personally, um, I'll usually say 10 Hail Marys before we get, before I start warming up, and then while I'm in cage, it's just I just pray a little bit just to like center myself or to calm myself down or, um, yeah, I'm constantly praying in the middle of games.

Speaker 1: 23:40

Love it If there was a um, a Bible verse or lesson that you wanted to share. For, uh, two lacrosse goalies. What would it be? Lacrosse goalies, what would it be Great question.

Speaker 2: 23:52

My favorite verse is Joshua 1.9. I might botch the wording a little bit, but I'll try and get the general gist. It's go be great. Be strong, courageous, for the Lord is with you, no matter wherever you go. So yeah, just knowing that, no matter what I do, the Lord is with me, no matter what, and he is supporting and loving and gracious no matter what.

Speaker 1: 24:18

Oh, that's a good one, that gave me chills. That's a good one. I like it. Go be great. Go be great. You got support. Awesome. You guys just played Penn. Great game, great game, a low scoring game. Seven to A low-scoring game 7-4?, 7-5?

Speaker 2: 24:36

6-5. 6-5.

Speaker 1: 24:37

6-5. 6-5. Unbelievable. I got some saves from that game. Can I share my screen? We can have a look? Yeah for sure. Yeah, all right, here we go. One of the things I wanted to talk about, and this is very Michigan style goalie like Mira did this, ariel did this. It's kind of the style of when the ball's behind at X. Right, it's not, you're not, you're not facing the ball with your chest. You're sort of doing that ice hockey look over your shoulder while your chest remains, continues to point upfield. Talk to me about that technique and why you like it.

Speaker 2: 25:14

Yeah, I started doing this when I got to college and I really like it because girls can't score at X and so when I face forward and just turn my head, I'm able to track a feed a lot better and be in the right positioning in cage once they feed the ball in and be in the right positioning in cage once they feed the ball in, like it.

Speaker 1: 25:34

At what point I think this might is this is this the one where they dodge from X? No, it's not. But at what point, like say, this girl at X has the ball right and she and she, let me, let me you're not in the, let me see where you're kind of looking over your shoulder Uh, right here, right, let's just say a girl has the ball from X and she sort of drives around. At what do you just stay in that position? Or like, at what point, what do you do to to defend that sort of shot?

Speaker 2: 26:02

Yeah, for sure. So I just read the attacker's body language. Um yeah, in my opinion, I think it's pretty easy to tell when they're looking to feed and their body's upright and when their shoulders down and they're driving a cage. So so usually, once I know that they're driving, I'll turn quicker. But like the real tell is, I should be on my pipe square to her by the time she's on GLE.

Speaker 1: 26:27

Got it. So once she tries to hit you, once she hits GLE, you going to. You're going to sort of go to that pipe and sort of square up.

Speaker 2: 26:33

Yes, I want to meet her at GLE. I don't want to be. I don't want to start moving once she's already there, but I want to meet her when she gets there.

Speaker 1: 26:40

Yeah, oh, this is the one. This is the one. So this is the exact same thing that we're talking about. It ends up being a goal, but this is so. Here she's direct. Can you see her?

Speaker 2: 26:50

she's sort of driving behind and then, right when she gets to gle, you square up right, yes, okay, um and then, yeah, for there, I would probably get my hands within the cage, um, the frame of the cage a little bit better and, um, they drop a little bit. So, yeah, to prevent that, that, actually that goal got taken away. It was a push into the crease and they, um, I gave them a the ball at the hanging hash, which is a little odd, but yeah, I would just try and keep my hands higher there and just be able to explode instead of coming from here to here up.

Speaker 1: 27:22

Yeah, got it, got it. And then, of course, every goalie's reaction to when there's a close play. And she was in the crease, she was in the crease, of course, but yeah, kind of going back to that save, yeah, sort of like keeping not getting so far outside of the frame of the goal is a good kind of takeaway, but yeah, all right, cool, let me see here. Here we got low save beauty of a save. Talk to me about your low save, your low save technique um, I don't know, it's just be fast.

Speaker 2: 28:10

I don't have a lot of a lot of things that go into it, but I just usually like to track um the ball out of her stick and um, my goal every shot is to wait to see that release point before I start moving. Um. So once I could see the ball release from her stick, I just shoot straight down. Hands and my head go together with my full body over the ball to make sure that if any rebounds happen, my body's there to save it.

Speaker 1: 28:35

Yeah, I had a goalie coach once that said, like on those low shots you should sort of smother it like a grenade, and that's like exactly what you're doing there right. Like your hips go down. Your head is like right over top of it, your hands are out in front. I mean, you're just. You can't watch that thing into the stick any better than that. Um thanks yeah, that's a, that's a really nice save, all right thanks, yeah, that was.

Speaker 2: 29:00

That was a pretty hype moment in the game. So the last save save you just showed was it got taken away for being in the crease, but also a push, and that was Penn, actually his video review. So that was the play that came right after the video review.

Speaker 1: 29:14

So we're all pretty pumped about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this, these saves are where we at like in the game. Have you did you you injure the leg before that, or?

Speaker 2: 29:30

Um, no, not at that point, I think. Right before that one, I think, honestly, I was watching the film and it was pretty obvious that I couldn't uh put too much weight on my leg at that point, but I think the safe. Previous was um was in the third quarter right before I did get a little hurt. Got it, got it.

Speaker 1: 29:41

Um, this is kind of cool to show just the movement on the arc. I mean, you mentioned being like a flat arc goalie, um, and that's what it looks like. Right, it's, that's one one thing I love so much about that low arc is you can you can adjust on the arc with so little movement. I mean you're you're side.

Speaker 1: 29:55

Right now you're top center. Now you're top left right now. Now you're on the other pipe and it's just so. It's so quick and easy. Um, what do you? What do you sort of, when you're pointing back there, are you saying just watch the feed. What are you communicating to your defense there? Do you remember?

Speaker 2: 30:09

uh, yeah, I think that's taylor cullen back there. Yeah, so I can see that the girl's body language is trying to get it through x. So, um, we play a pretty aggressive style of defense, I would say so. I was just um, telling taylor to get there to see if she could cut off any passes. So they just take away what they want to facilitate the ball through X.

Speaker 1: 30:26

And this is her. This is Taylor, back here.

Speaker 2: 30:28

Yeah, that's Taylor. So I'm just telling Taylor, taylor get there, taylor get there.

Speaker 1: 30:31

And she does get there, she does get there. Great defense.

Speaker 2: 30:34

Awesome.

Speaker 1: 30:35

Yeah, all right, let's check out this save. I like how there's so much chaos and chaos in front of you and then it's like the c's part and then boom, there's the same. Yeah, that's cool. Uh, talk to me about this. You remember this one honestly not.

Speaker 2: 31:06

I don't completely remember it, uh, but they were. Oh, yeah, this one I was injured. This is the end of the third quarter, um, so yeah, I do remember this one. So, um, their main target was driving on. Maddie burns all day, so give her a shout out. I think she took 101 vehicles that day, um, so I knew what she wanted. I knew she wanted to get to the middle of the field, um, get her hands free and let a shot go. She took pretty early shots. So, like you were saying, there's a lot of chaos in front of the cage, but I was expecting a shot to come early, right out after her dodge. Um, so just staying steady and we call it finding the side, so just blurring out any of the distractions in front of you and just focusing on that stick that's behind her ear and trying to, yeah, just explode, like I said, when the ball releases from her stick, and not really trying to worry about any screens or anything that's going on in front of me.

Speaker 1: 31:58

Finding the side.

Speaker 2: 32:00

Yeah, that's what we call it. Like, I don't know just little things that work for us, but that's what my call it. Like um, I don't know just little things that work for us, but that's what my coach anna calls it is um, find the sides. Just find the side of her head where the ball is um and just find, like yeah, just finding the yellow um and reacting to that, getting released from her stick got it, got it.

Speaker 2: 32:18

So just sort of yeah, picking up that release window where she might, where she might shoot yeah, and also just not watching her whole body, um, but mainly just focusing on um her shoulders and where her stick is yeah, like it.

Speaker 1: 32:33

Um cool, all right. Uh, uh, you want to watch the injury? Okay, it's a goal given up too I know yeah I was like double whammy there.

Speaker 2: 32:53

Yeah, right, yeah ouch.

Speaker 1: 33:04

So what? Why do you think? Why do you think you missed that one?

Speaker 2: 33:06

if we had to break down, uh, one of the goals given up yeah, so when I make that step I I beat her to the outside a little too fast, so I think I'm squared to the elbow instead of squared to the shooter. Um, so I have to make a bigger motion back to where she shoots it on my stick side, um. So I think if I stayed not center, but we call it our swivel step, so it's not fully center and it's not fully top what is that top left um? Just being a little bit more square to her, I think, would have put me in a better position, just like we saw before, for me to just snap down and not have to make this huge motion towards the ball yeah, yeah, that's, that's good analysis, that's good analysis.

Speaker 1: 33:45

Cause you can kind of see like you're right square to the camera Um and like, and she's shooting from a little bit over here, and so you know, uh, just just a slight pivot of the hips or like I don't know if, right, if your right foot goes back, your left foot goes forward, but just getting, you know, a little bit more squared up, I think, I think might've helped. Might've helped on that one Um and yeah and that kind of hamstring splits hit the splits.

Speaker 1: 34:08

Um, I guess you guys, you guys, don't do that one in yoga.

Speaker 2: 34:12

Um, I don't know, it's a weird thing. I could do it on my left side a little bit better, but yeah, I've never done it on my right and it was not an intentional thing. Um my heel hit the ground and slipped so it definitely was not intentional.

Speaker 1: 34:29

I think it's what causes a lot of injury too, like when you do it in yoga.

Speaker 2: 34:30

you know you're going for it, right.

Speaker 1: 34:31

But when all of a sudden it slips and you just, and you just get into it right away, how do you then play through injury, or what are some tips that you can share for playing through injury? Is it mental? Is it just ignore the pain Like what, what, what goes on?

Speaker 2: 34:46

Yeah, it was definitely mental. I'm stubborn, I'm very very stubborn it was.

Speaker 2: 34:52

It was four four at this point and I went down and, honestly, thankfully they scored, because then the clock stopped and we didn't need to put put my trainer onto the field to, um, make sure I was okay, because that would have. If she comes onto the field, I have to come off, right, um. So, um, yeah, I popped up kind of quickly after this and the ref came over to me and was like, just take a minute. Um, like we have time, we're setting up a draw, and I didn't really know who was there and, um, my trainer's name is mich Michelle and we love her so much.

Speaker 2: 35:25

But I was like no one get Michelle, no one get Michelle, because I wanted to stay in that game. So they were like you're good, and I just walked it off a little bit and, yeah, going back to my faith, I really used that in that moment. So, just ask for strength to get through the rest of that game. Um, while still playing, performing. So, um, this was pretty close to the end of the third quarter, so I had time to go talk to my trainer, talk to my coach, and, uh, I was like I'm good, I'm good, like I could do it Um, but I told my trainer if I start, if I can't make any saves.

Speaker 2: 36:04

But luckily my defense is incredible and I was able to make some saves in the fourth quarter and our offense came up big right at the end. So, yeah, I think it was all mental really trying to get through that. I was in a little bit of pain, for sure, but I knew my team had my back and I knew that we would get it done, no matter what.

Speaker 1: 36:27

Love it, love it. I think that's it. Oh, there's one other goal I want to take a look at if we could. Yeah, five hole goal again, and you had a beautiful save before um, and this one sort of same technique. I mean you're right there, but what, what would you do? You remember this one? Would you do anything different?

Speaker 2: 36:59

yeah, I remember this one, um she again, I think it was. It was their main target and, uh, we had um. I do remember I fell a little slow to the ball. That time I wasn't as explosive and, as you can see, you paused it before. In the right spot my hands are a lot farther out, like right there, they're not. I would prefer to be like within my frame, um, instead of pushing my hands out towards the ball because it slips underneath if my hands are too far out. So just going straight down instead of out and hands out towards the ball because it slips underneath if my hands are too far out. So just going straight down instead of out and down usually allows me to make a better save or a save here, because they do score it.

Speaker 1: 37:33

Yeah, awesome. Yeah Well, thank you for taking a look at those. Oh, there was one other play that I wanted to look at, not necessarily. Yeah, this one right here. Talk to me about this pass right here Like a full field.

Speaker 1: 37:52

Full field pass right there, um you mentioned being an athletic goalie and kind of kind of those clearing, and I watched a little bit of your highlight tape, uh, from high school, and one of them was just, you know that, three quarters of the field hitting a girl that streaked behind the defense. Is that, you know, is the outlet. You know the clearing game always been something you sort of take pride in and talk to me about that.

Speaker 2: 38:14

For sure, it's one of my favorite parts of the game. Honestly, I love getting along clear out that leads to a good offensive possession that leads to a goal. So, um, yeah, it's something that we worked on a little bit is pushing transition and I think, um, at the beginning of the year, I was a little bit, maybe a little bit more weary to really throw the ball downfield, um, but just getting more comfortable and confident and I have my low defenders if need be. But if I see the ball upfield, that's um, I'm going to try and hit it, and and that's what I did here.

Speaker 1: 38:43

Awesome they don't end up showing this. I assume this connects.

Speaker 2: 38:47

It actually didn't. It did. It's okay, it was the beginning of the game. I forgive her. We're good friends, but I did hit my friend's stick and bounce out of bounds so I was a little frustrated with her. But you know, that's how the game happens and I still clear the ball to her. It's no B for anything like that. It was just a mistake and mistakes happen in the game. So yeah, that would have been awesome, but it's all good.

Speaker 1: 39:16

Love it. And then, as a 6'5", the guys ended up winning, and that is the celebration of a one-goal game. My hamstring I'm, so I'm pulling it out here. Uh, so congrats on that. Talk to me about, about that feeling.

Speaker 2: 39:32

Oh my gosh that was so much relief. Um, I am so thankful for Jill Smith for scoring that goal with 18 seconds left. I don't know if I would have been able to do overtime on top of that game and the pain that I was feeling in that moment. So really grateful we were able to get it done at the end of the game and, yeah, I usually am running a lot after the games. I'm pretty pumped up, but yeah, that's all I could do is get my hands up and it's funny, you can see my helmet in the back and I was trying not to get in the midst of the dog pile and I actually had some of my teammates that were building a wall around me to make sure I was all good and didn't get hit over by or by any of my teammates that were pretty pumped in that moment. So it was good.

Speaker 1: 40:15

Love it. Well, Aaron, thank you so much for for sharing your stories and and your time and and going through those saves, even the goals given up, and good luck rest of the season. It's been awesome watching you play and you guys are looking really good out there, so good luck for the rest of the season. And if you had to leave the goalies out there with the final piece of advice, what would that be?

Speaker 2: 40:40

Let me think. Kind of cliche, but just having a short-term memory, I think is super important for a goalie. I mentioned this before, but how you play lacrosse is not how you're defined as a person. So I think just remembering that and remembering one goal doesn't define a game, or and you as an individual cannot dictate if you win or lose a game. So, um, I think, yeah, just remembering that, um one goal goes in, you're going to get another save eventually at some point and um can't take it too uh, too close, um too much to the heart. So just yeah, yeah, just. Really sorry I kind of lost my train of thought there, but just bouncing back quickly after goals is pretty important to having that short-term memory and the trust in your teammates and your teammates have trust in you that you're going to get it done.

Speaker 1: 41:36

Just like you bounce back right there. Exactly, Erin. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 41:41

Thank you, I really appreciate it.