If you missed it last week, I previewed the 2015 MLL draft at both the attack and midfield. This week, I shift gears to the man tasked with stopping them from scoring, the goalies.
The goalie position is arguably the most important position in lacrosse. Similar to hockey, a hot goaltender can make a fringe playoff contender dangerous. A great goaltender can also be the key in erasing some of the defense’s biggest mistakes and can be a huge momentum changer if they make a big stop on the crease.
Last year saw one of the stronger goalie classes in recent memory as Maryland’s Niko Amato and Penn State’s Austin Kaut headlined a pretty well-rounded class. This year, the goalie class will be pretty strong once again as Lehigh’s Matt Poillon and Army’s Sam Somers headline the 2015 class.
Matt Poillon, Lehigh: You could argue that Poillon is the best goalie in the nation. That argument is exclusively between him and fellow Patriot League goalie Sam Somers of Army. The Patriot League is stacked at goalie as three of the top prospects in this year’s draft class hail from that conference. Poillon has been a gamechanger since stepping foot on Lehigh’s campus as he has essentially started every game for the Mountain Hawks since freshman year. He ranked eighth in the nation in save percentage (.564) and had 150 saves. He was also the leader of a defense that was ranked second in the nation in goal against per game at 7.2.
Sam Somers, Army: Somers was the unquestioned starter at Army as he started 10 games for the Black Knights. Unfortunately, his season ended early dur to injury and he missed the last four games of the season. He was named an honorable mention All-American and was an All-Patriot League Second Team selection last year despite the injury. He was also second in the nation in save percentage (.622). Somers should anchor another tough defense and be one of the top two goalies drafted from this year’s crop.
Sam Grinberg, Bucknell: Grinberg was pretty consistent throughout the season as he saved 10 or more shots in 10 of the 15 games he played including strong performances against Colgate (twice), Lehigh and Loyola. He will need to pick up his play against the better competition on the schedule as he struggled against Army, North Carolina, Fairfield and Bryant. Grinberg does take up a lot of the goal though so he has an advantage on players who take low angle shots on him. Unfortunately for him, he plays in the same conference as Poillon and Somers. He would be a first team all conference selection in several other conferences.
Ryan LaPlante, Denver: LaPlante has been splitting time with Jamie Faus since getting to Denver. This will be the first season that he presumably gets the goal all to himself. LaPlante had more saves than Faus (100 to 91) and a better save percentage (.556 to .538). If you want to say that he will keep those statistics going, then he should easily be in the Top 10 in significant goalie categories this year. It also helps that Denver plays in a pretty weak conference.
Conor Kelly, Notre Dame: Kelly had a very odd season in 2014. He started the team’s first two games before being benched for freshman Shane Doss. Then Kelly took over for Doss in the middle of the season as Doss he struggled in net. From then on however, Kelly took the reins of the goalie competition and helped Notre Dame to an NCAA Championship Game appearance. Outside of the ACC Championship game against Syracuse and the NCAA quarterfinal game against Albany, Kelly was on fire and keyed the Irish defense with his confidence and big save ability. If he can carry that play over to this season, Notre Dame will be a National Title Contender.
Jake Gambitsky, Harvard: Gambitsky was named second team All Ivy League last season and is a member of the first team on the preseason All Ivy League list this year. Gambitsky looks to build off an up-and-down season that ended on a higher note. While unimpressive during the beginning of the season, he really turned it on for the Crimson down the stretch as he had five games with 10 or more saves anda save percentage of .550 or better. That play helped the Crimson get all the way to the Iv y League Championship game and ultimately, a first round game against Notre Dame.
Others to keep an eye on:
Austin Geisler, High Point
Dustin Keen, Saint Josephs
Eric Sanschagrin, Princeton
Chris Selva, Hofstra
