Two Goalkeepers Make A Net Gain

The most pressure-packed job on the entire Harvard women’s soccer team fell on two freshmen’s shoulders this fall.Now, with possible postseason play approaching, that burden may fall to just one.

Harvard’s two freshman goaltenders—Katie Shields and Maja Agustsdottir—have been splitting time all season, with Shields starting and Agustsdottir playing the second half. Then in the second-to-last game of the season, Harvard coach Tim Wheaton played just one, leaving starter Katie Shields in net for the entire game in Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Dartmouth.

“I didn’t know until halftime that I wasn’t playing,” Agustsdottir said.

Wheaton’s coaching move comes at an unexpected moment. Even though Agustsdottir missed four games in the middle of the season to play on the Icelandic National Team, she was thrown right back into action as soon as she returned.

“I definitely think that it [leaving for Iceland] might have had something to do with why I haven’t been starting this season, but I knew this was a possibility before I went this September,” Agustsdottir said.

Yet despite the surprise switch, many players note that last weekend’s coaching move may not have an effect on this weekend’s game against Columbia. Shields said Wheaton will likely wait until halftime of that game before deciding on the second-half goalie.

The two goalies are indistinguishable on paper. Both goalies have given up at least one goal in every loss where they’ve split time. While Agustsdottir has let in one more goal than Shields, she has also been made 23 saves against 55 shots, while Shields has made just 16 saves on 46 shots.

In the four games Agustsdottir was absent, Harvard played three ranked opponents. Shields had at least ten saves in each of those three games, but the Crimson lost them all. She was Harvard’s sole representative on the All-Tournament Team for the Harvard Invitational, largely for her efforts against Penn State.

Despite the competition for playing time, both say they share a great working relationship both on and off the field.

“Katie Shields has had a good season—there has been no problem with her in goal, so the coaching staff has had no reason to change the goalie,” Agustsdottir said. “She deserves to be the starting goalie this season.”

Though several defensive players said they have equal confidence with either of the goaltenders in the net, there are differences between the two that don’t show up in the box score.

“I think Maja is more of a shot-stopper, and Katie just has a real presence about her in the goal and comes off the line really well,” said junior co-captain and midfielder Katie Hodel. “They both distribute well—it’s hard to find any faults in either of them.”

Freshmen goaltenders are hardly a new phenomena in Harvard history. Anne Browning ’00 was a freshman starter back in 1996 and dazzled the competition with a 0.54 goals-against average. When Browning left the team her senior year to focus on crew, then-freshman Cheryl Gunther rose to the occasion and shattered Harvard records. Her 0.44 goals-against average was the third-best in the nation that season.

Now Agustsdottir and Shields have been forced into the freshmen starter role themselves.

None of Wheaton’s goalkeeping recruits since 1999 have chosen to play for him for the full four years. Gunther, a three-year starter, quit the team this summer. Junior Mollie Durkin, who briefly started during the 2000 season, left the team over a year ago.

But Wheaton succeeded in bringing in two highly-regarded freshmen who have filled the void.

Shields excelled at the club level, advancing to the national championship game with her club team in the Under-16 and Under-17 age divisions. Shields’ team won the championship the first time, but lost in double overtime on her second trip to the finals.

While Shields had success at the U.S. club level, Agustsdottir has already played internationally. She played against such European powerhouses as Italy, Spain, Russia and Poland in World Cup qualifying with the Icelandic National Team.

“Women’s soccer in Iceland has improved a lot, because a lot of players have been going abroad,” Agustsdottir said. “We have players in Scandinavia and the U.S. now.”

Both goaltenders say that the other is an incredible player, and each feels she has improved by practicing with the other. Each has a lot to offer the Crimson and looks forward to contributing to the team’s future success.