By Philip Rossman-Reich
The Daily Northwestern
It was a challenge issued at the beginning of an early season practice.
A one-mile race between coach Tim Lenahan and goalkeeper Misha Rosenthal. Beat the coach and the team gets a practice off. Lose and the team gets another practice added on.
It was a challenge designed to test Rosenthal’s fitness and health. The coach wanted to see if his goalkeeper came into the season in good physical condition after offseason shoulder surgery.
Lenahan ran the mile in 7:30. Rosenthal beat him by 15 seconds.
Rosenthal then earned the starting spot in practice.
“Fitness isn’t my thing,” Rosenthal said. “It was a way to motivate everyone. He challenged me to a one-mile race … (and) I ended up beating him. I saved some of my dignity. Whatever I have left.”
Rosenthal and No. 3 Northwestern (7-0-1, 1-0-0 Big Ten) have been humbling opponents with a school-record five straight shutouts. NU will look to make it six tomorrow at Penn State (3-4-1, 0-0-1).
The sophomore from Miami missed all of last season with a torn labrum in his shoulder, earning a medical redshirt. He also struggled with chronic wrist tendonitis his freshman year.
But Rosenthal is back healthy and has made big save after big save to propel NU to its best start in school history.
“We’ve had high expectations since the day he got to campus three years ago,” Lenahan said. “He needed to mature a little bit and understand what you need to invest to become a good player. By the end of the year last year, he was probably our best goalkeeper. But we were already locked into the year and doing pretty well. We had high expectations for him. So far he has met those expectations.”
Lenahan said the Cats were forced to play Rosenthal earlier than they had intended because of an injury to starting goalkeeper Justin Pines two years ago.
Rosenthal did not perform poorly as a freshman. He started nine games and went 5-2-1 with three shutouts and 1.24 goals-against average. He led the team in wins and saves.
Then injuries hit and Rosenthal was forced to sit on the sidelines during NU’s run to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament last season.
“(Sitting out) was difficult,” Rosenthal said. “I learned a lot. In hindsight it’s a lot better. Justin Pines played phenomenal. Learning from him was great.”
Lenahan said missing last year took pressure off Rosenthal and allowed him to just focus on getting better each day. Rosenthal was redshirted last year, but still trained with the team and established a close relationship with the rest of the squad.
He came back to the field strong, giving up only two goals – one of them on a penalty kick – and making 21 saves in the Cats’ first eight games. He leads the nation in goals-against average (0.24) and has recorded six shutouts.
With a veteran defense in front of him, Rosenthal has plenty of support. But the defense inevitably breaks down and that’s when Rosenthal takes control. Rosenthal said he and the defense feed off each other’s play, picking each other up when mistakes are made.
Senior midfielder David Roth said strong play from the goalkeeper resonates to the entire team.
“It builds a lot of confidence, knowing your goalie is going to make big saves,” Roth said. “Whenever we slip up, you know he’s going to at least make one big save a game for us, which is really all you can ask for in a goalie.”
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