(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)
ORLANDO, Fla. – Stepping into an injured starter’s role is no small task. It’s an even taller order when the position is goalkeeper and the starter was the previous season’s National Women’s Soccer League Goalkeeper of the Year. But second-year Orlando Pride goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe has had no problem filling in for perennial starter and team captain Ashlyn Harris.
So far this season, Bledsoe has made nine starts and recorded 34 saves, including three NWSL Saves of the Week. She has allowed 14 goals and an average of 1.6 goals per game. That’s just 0.3 goals per game more than Harris’ Pride career average of 1.3.
For Harris, Bledsoe’s play has allowed her to take her time in returning to the starting lineup after suffering a quad injury in Week 5 that has kept her away from competitive play.
“Could I have rushed back? Could I have been playing by now? Yes,” Harris told the New Day Review after training Friday. “I just don’t see the point in that. I think Aubrey’s in a really good place. The team is in a good place. She’s doing her job. If it was a nightmare, it would’ve been different.
“She’s made it easier on me… If it’s a World Cup final, if it’s an NWSL final, that’s different. But she’s stepping in. I trust her, you know? I trust Aubrey. The team trusts her. If I had an issue where everyone was like, ‘Oh, Jesus. She’s—’ Like, we don’t have that. So it’s given me the opportunity to sit back, do it at my pace, do it at my comfort.”
As for Bledsoe, she doesn’t see Harris as a unique player simply because of her skill; for the second-year pro, Harris is just as concerned about her fellow goalkeepers’ progression as she is her own.
“I’ll put it this way: There’s not too many goalkeepers that I’ve worked with who are as concerned about others’ development as they are their own,” Bledsoe told the New Day Review after training on July 27. “So, I know Ash is always there to encourage me, to help me out. It can be a bit of a selfish sport at times. You’re always kinda focused on, ‘How am I doing? How can I improve?’ So, for her, she looks outside herself. She’s not only concerned about her own development and getting back from this injury, she’s, ‘How can I help the team? How can Aubrey be better? How can Caroline and Hannah be better?’ So it’s just really cool to see that.”
First-year Pride goalkeepers coach Lloyd Yaxley, who has coached Harris with the Washington Spirit, Bledsoe has embraced the starting role and every responsibility that has come with it.
“From preseason to now, we’ve spent a lot of time on game film and making positional adjustments,” Yaxley told the New Day Review after training on July 27. “And then obviously, there’s some technical pieces that I’ve tried to introduce to her game. A few weeks ago, she actually won Save of the Week against Washington, and the game before in Houston, she had tried the technique, and it hadn’t worked… So we broke down game film pretty intensely of that minor detail about her shoulder being squarer, and then the following week against Washington, she pretty much executes the technique perfectly.
“So she’s really opened to new ideas and new techniques and adjusting little things here and there, and I think that’s why you see improvement throughout those [games]. She’s getting more confident each game, and she’s growing as a goalkeeper.”
From Harris’ perspective, this is a role that Bledsoe has been ready for.
“I think too many times rookie goalkeepers get thrown in, and they get eaten up and spit out, and it hurts their careers, and it takes years to rebuild it, and it sometimes can be a nightmare,” Harris said. “And, as you can see with Aubrey, she takes a year under her belt of understanding the game, learning the game, learning the position, and when she steps in, she can do well. It sets her up for success, not for failure, and I think that’s the biggest thing people are seeing. She’s been ready. She wasn’t put into a situation she wasn’t ready for.”
Bledsoe and the Pride are still seeking their first-ever win against the Chicago Red Stars. Both teams will play Saturday night in Orlando at 7:30 p.m.
For more on Bledsoe’s performances and Harris’ return, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
