Drew Healy is often likened to a superhero.
But it has nothing to do with his eight shutouts this season. Nor is it because the senior goalkeeper has been the catalyst behind the men's soccer team's 8-2-2 start.
Rather, he has been likened physically to a variety of super-powered crime fighters for the unique eyewear he dons for games and training. The resemblance is especially noticeable when he wears his green goalkeeping uniform.
And whether or not the goggles are the reason for Healy's success this year, they're hard to ignore while watching him in net.
"Everyone always raises an eyebrow when they see them for the first time," Healy said. "After [my teammates] got their laughs out, they were OK with it. Fans from opposing teams also seem to like them; they get on my case."
Healy wears them not as a fashion statement but for medical reasons. During a November practice last year, he was hit in the face by a shot from close range. The ball struck Healy directly in the left eye, detaching his retina.
Though he's now fully recovered, he's prone to re-injury.
"They said I was millimeters away from being blind in my left eye," he said. "Everything's back to normal, but if I got hit again, there would be a greater chance that I would lose sight in that eye."
Doctors told Healy he would need to wear protective eyewear, but they left the details up to him. The goalkeeper didn't want to feel like he was playing with something on his face; in fact, he even joked with his parents that if he couldn't find something comfortable, he would hang up his cleats and gloves for good.
Healy commenced the search, and after only 10 days found the solution: police ballistic goggles. They are light and flexible, and they do not block his vision at all - peripheral or otherwise.
"I just happened to be searching all over the place and I came up with a brand that makes urban assault goggles," he said. "I figured if it's good enough for the army, it's good enough for me."
They help him during day games, too, when he puts a tinted visor in them to block the sun.
Now, the goggles allow Healy to be more assertive in net. He doesn't need to worry about the prospects of major damage to his once-injured eye.
"It makes a big difference if I don't have them," he said. "I sat out a training session in preseason because I couldn't find them that day. I just felt bare, I felt vulnerable. They're kind of like my security blanket."
But with the goggles, Healy has played incredibly well, as he started the season with a Penn-record seven consecutive shutouts. Perhaps that's because he knew coming into the season that if he was going to look like a superhero, he'd better play like one.
"Or else," he said, "people would be all over me. So I said to my family, 'This is going to be my best year yet - or I'm going to be a laughingstock.'"
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