Penn women soccer's two-goalie system attains success

The Penn women’s soccer team has a secret weapon — two secret weapons, really.

While tending Penn’s goal, junior Sarah Banks and senior co-captain Caroline Williams haven’t allowed a goal in 360 minutes of play.
Integral to Penn’s 4-0 start — the four shutouts to open the season are the best team start since 1998 — Banks and Williams are currently operating in a rare two-goalie system, splitting each game evenly.

The advantage of the system, in Williams’ words, is that, “We bring two different things to the table. An opponent might get used to one goalie’s style in the first half and then have to deal with another’s style in the second. They can’t get used to it.”
So far this season, Banks has been the starter with Williams coming on for the second half.

Coach Darren Ambrose understands the plight of the goalkeeper, having played the position at USC-Spartanburg, and he knows both the pros and cons of having two equally talented players in net.

His approach is that whoever performs best in practice — goalies or not — plays in the game. Having two players who work hard, play hard and improve together every week is both an enormous asset and something to be used carefully, so that neither player gets overly comfortable in her position. He made a point of saying that there is no reason to expect that this will be the norm for the remainder of the season.

“This is working for us right now,” he said. “But we haven’t decided on anything final, and we won’t. We take it game by game, opponent by opponent.”

Williams, who started all 18 games last season, agreed.
“Every week is a fresh start,” she said. “Playing in the game is a reward, and we’ve both been working really hard to earn it.”

Penn’s opponents have combined for an 0-35 goals-to-shot attempts ratio, with Banks making seven saves to Williams’ four.

The talent of the goalies, moreover, is bolstered by the Penn defense, which has drastically limited its opponents’ ability to take shots on goal. In the team’s most recent contest against local rival St. Joseph’s, Penn outshot the Hawks, 10-4, in the second half, a testament to the Quakers’ equally impressive offensive and defensive efforts.

The strength of these statistics indicates to Ambrose how much of an asset the two are to each other, and this has been clear since the opening weeks of preseason practice.

“[Banks] performed really well during preseason, so [Williams] responded by elevating her own level of play. They push each other.”
Despite the unusual dual-keeper system, Banks says she’s been playing as part of a two-goalie team for her whole life, with mixed results.

“It works some places, and it doesn’t work others,” she said. “Competition gets in the way, and it gets destructive. Here [Williams and I] push each other, but it’s all positive. I cheer for her as if it’s me in goal, and she does the same for me.”

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