Each week during the soccer season, we'll recognize a player whose recent performances reinforce her place among the best in the nation. Consider it our way to check in on, or in some cases introduce, the personalities who will shape the race for espnW player of the year.
The easiest way to make a goalkeeper bristle is to ask about battling boredom during those afternoons when few opponents, and even fewer shots, find their way through a defense.
There is more to the craft, keepers will assure you, than stopping shots. In managing a back line, distributing the ball and shutting down potential danger before it becomes real drama, the bulk of the work has little to do with the acrobatic saves that lend themselves to highlights.
South Carolina's Mikayla Krzeczowski -- one of the most accomplished keepers ever to play for a program with no shortage of them, a program that rose to prominence on its defensive bona fides -- might have made just that case after her team's first seven games this season.
Sure, she only had to make seven saves in 565 minutes to win six of those seven games and keep five clean sheets. But from Manchester United's David de Gea to former South Carolina standout and current Canadian international Sabrina D'Angelo, a good keeper can influence a game without making a memorable save.
Then again, maybe there really are boring days from time to time.
"They are definitely my rock in front of me," Krzeczowski said of her defense on The 6yd Box podcast. "It takes 10 people to get to me, and I have very few opportunities where I -- really, honestly -- have to work hard. They do such a great job in front of me."
Of course, the great ones also influence games by making precisely those saves worth remembering. Sometimes it isn't about nuance. Sometimes it's just about stopping the ball.
In a week when nothing came easy for No. 13 South Carolina -- the Gamecocks were chased out of town ahead of schedule by an impending hurricane and then left to play in that storm's wet and windy remnants against a ranked opponent with offensive talent to burn -- Krzeczowski had the most work to do. And in making seven saves in a 2-0 win against Tennessee on Sunday, the junior argued that there should be room enough for goalkeepers in the player of the year discussion.
The defensive player South Carolina might have expected to take command on Sunday wasn't the goalkeeper. Like West Virginia's Kadeisha Buchanan and Virginia's Emily Sonnett in recent seasons, Grace Fisk is a defender with the talent to shut down goal scorers and shut them out of national awards. With Stanford's Tierna Davidson unfortunately sidelined for what will likely be the rest of the season, the Penn State transfer who helped England to the U-20 World Cup semifinals has an obvious claim as the best defender in college soccer.
And against a Tennessee lineup with first-team all-conference options Katie Cousins and Bunny Shaw and U.S. U-20 international Erin Gilroy, Fisk helped the Gamecocks limit the Lady Vols to long-distance and half chances.
For a little more than an hour, the 5-foot-6 Krzeczowski's work was mostly routine -- or at least as routine as was possible on a day when wet conditions made balls skip off the grass and wind helped South Carolina take the lead on a goal scored directly off a corner kick.
But as increasingly sodden uniforms told a story of the deteriorating conditions, a failed clearance from the South Carolina defense set up Tennessee's Anna Bialczak for an open shot from the top of the 18-yard box. Bialczak curled the shot toward the far post, but Krzeczowski reached out strong hands to not only stop the shot but punch the ball clear of danger.
Krzeczowski is tied with D'Angelo for second in program history with 29 shutouts, two behind Mollie Patton, who helped put South Carolina on the soccer map. She's four behind the SEC career record. All of which is good company considering she's only a junior. At her current pace, she has a realistic chance to become just the third Division I player with 50 career shutouts.
These are lean times for college goalkeepers. Only three were among nearly 50 players on the preseason Hermann Trophy watch list. Not since the inaugural 2013 NWSL draft was a keeper selected in the first round. Difference makers at the position are rare.
Krzeczowski makes a difference.
"The biggest thing I was taught growing up was fake it until you make it," Krzeczowski told the same podcast. "Whether you're a confident goalkeeper or not, as long as you look the part and you have a presence -- and you learn along the way and figure out 'What do I need to do to get better?' -- whether you're 4-feet tall or 6-feet tall, as long as you sound and feel 6-feet tall, that's all that matters."
She wasn't just the beneficiary a season ago of Savannah McCaskill and an attack that made opponents do much of the defending. She isn't just the beneficiary of Fisk and the program's defensive blueprint this season. She's part of that success, even on those seemingly boring sunny afternoons when there aren't any highlights worth remembering.
She was definitely part of it on a wet, windy afternoon when there was plenty of work to do.