Oftentimes, when hearing the stats for a game being read off in the morning announcements, offensive players receive the highest commendations.

Defensive players are regularly overlooked, especially goalies. While looking into PVHS soccer, lacrosse, and water polo goalies, we can see the importance of their role on their team. 

Varsity Boys Water Polo goalie Alex Cacos explains how he first began his journey as a goalkeeper. 

“When I started playing in the field for a year I was pretty slow. My coach had enough of it and told me to try out the goal.”

With the influence of former coach Patrick O’Brien, Cacos started playing in goal. 

“The first time I tried it I was pretty good at it, and I enjoyed it more than swimming. That’s when I started, and I stuck with it.”

Cacos explains that being a goalie tends to be rough mentally. 

“When you get scored on you get mad at yourself. Every mistake I make ends up on the scoreboard. If my teammates make a mistake there’s usually someone else to block the ball for them, but I’m the last line of defense. If I miss the block, the whole team is looking and depending on me. There’s a lot of pressure on me because of that.”

For Grace Moore, the Varsity Girls Lacrosse goalie, her journey to becoming a goalkeeper started in another way.  

“I first became a goalie because everyone thought it was scary, and I wanted to challenge myself.”

Moore is also familiar with the mental obstacles that come with being a goalie. 

“In order to be successful as a goalie, you need to be in the right mindset. It’s definitely more challenging to play goalie in lacrosse because of the whole mental aspect. Being scored on is tough, and it’s all about how you react.”

Moore had always felt drawn to the goalkeeper position. 

“Ever since I started playing lacrosse, I was interested in becoming a goalie since I had tried it in a few other sports like soccer. Even though I was open to playing any position, anytime a goalie was needed, I would be the first to step up,” Moore said. 

“My favorite part about being a goalie is showing my leadership skills.”

Varsity Boys Soccer goalie Stefan Dreer experiences similar hardships to Cacos while in the goal. 

“It’s hard being a goalie because it means that any mistake you make directly affects the score. My performance matters significantly to the entire team, so it’s important that I’m always putting my best foot forward.” 

For Dreer, however, the good outweighs the bad. 

“Despite the pressure, it’s very rewarding to be a goalie because all the other guys on the team are always looking to me for support,” Dreer explained. 

No matter the sport, goalies are crucial to team harmony, and are the backbone of defense.