It takes a special mentality to be a goalie.
“You have to know that your mistakes are always amplified,” goalkeeper Misha Rosenthal said. “A goal comes from your mistake. That drives me. It makes me work harder. I like that about being a goalkeeper.”
Luckily for Northwestern, Rosenthal has been showing he has that midset since he notched his first start more than four years ago in the 2005 season opener.
The senior keeper has done more than maintain the keeper mentality – he has rewritten the record books for Wildcats goalies. He’s the only NU goalie ever to be named to an all-Big Ten team. He holds the record for career goals against average and the top two single season numbers in that same category.
He also holds the top two spots for most shutouts in a single season. His 13 shutouts in 2007 nearly doubled the single-season record. Rosenthal has now passed the NU career record of 16 shutouts and is at 28 on the career and counting.
“We’ve had some solid goalkeepers in the past,” coach Tim Lenahan said. “But having that guy over the last few years that can step up and make big saves and keep clean sheets certainly has been very instrumental in our success.”
Part of what makes Rosenthal one of the best goalies to ever play in Evanston is his physical presence: at 6’3″, with the agility and reflexes to cover any part of the net, it’s not easy to get the ball past him.
“His athletic ability in the goal is unbelievable,” senior defender Pat Coleman said. “We know that if we let him down, we can get one big save a game from him.”
But it’s not merely about his brick wall defense. As a four-year starting goalie, Rosenthal is a comforting presence in the net and is the de facto leader of the back line.
“You just feel so secure with him,” junior defender Cody Stanley said. “He tells you exactly where you need to be, he makes unbelievable plays. He’s just the best goalie I’ve ever played with.”
Rosenthal has been the back end of a defensive unit that has been among the best in the country in the past few seasons. In 2007, Rosenthal had a 0.63 goals against average, good for the 14th best in the nation, and the best in school history by a wide margin.
He followed it up with a Big Ten-leading 0.48 average the next year, the fourth-best in the nation. Although that number has more than doubled to a 1.00 average this year, it would still be the sixth-best number in school history if it holds up.
“Defense is something that’s emphasized here,” Rosenthal said. “It’s great to be the last line of defense at someplace where defending is so key. I’ve got great guys in front of me, and that’s what’s most important.”
Though he may seem like a natural goalie, Rosenthal hasn’t always defended the net. When he played youth soccer in his hometown of Miami, Rosenthal played the field. However, when he was 13, his team’s starting goalie couldn’t make it to a tournament, and he volunteered to take the spot. It was immediately a good fit.
“I liked it,” Rosenthal said. “I liked the pressure, I liked the fact that it’s different from all the other positions.”
Rosenthal learned fast: By the time he arrived in Evanston five years later, he was already good enough to be a starting goalie for NU.
Rosenthal then redshirted the 2006 season. In his sophomore and junior years, he put together two of the most impressive seasons an NU goalie has ever had.
“He’s grown a lot since he came here as an 18 year old,” Lenahan said. “It seems like he’s been here 17 years. It’s great to see him grow as a person, but that growth just coincides with his growth as a goalkeeper.”
His senior season has been a slight dropoff, but still Rosenthal has anchored the No. 17 Cats. A concussion early in the year forced Rosenthal to miss two games, and he’s spent the rest of the year wearing a padded helmet almost identical to the one Petr Cech, a member of the Chelsea Football Club, wears in net.
“I don’t even notice it,” Rosenthal said. “I took the heat from the guys the first couple weeks I had it, but I’ll put on anything that will help me stay on the field.”
Rosenthal only has one regular season game left in his collegiate career, but he remains focused on trying to be a member of the first group of seniors to go to four straight NCAA Tournaments.
“I’m just thinking about winning games right now,” Rosenthal said. “When the time comes, I’ll have all the time in the world to be nostalgic. But for now, I try not to think about it.”
And of all the people on the team, there’s no better person to be completely focused.
“I like that I’m the last line of defense,” Rosenthal said. “You can help out your team, but you can also really hurt them.”[email protected]
