The Last Line of Defense

The goalkeeper position proved to be one of the most important roles to making the 2007 campaign less of a disaster than it could have been. Nick Rimando was amazing and took home the RSL player of the year award. Chris Seitz had great games playing for his country and giving RSL fans a sense of connected pride and Reynish...well he logged zero minutes, but that isn't that important.

Nick Rimando (wiki) 5'9" 184 lbs. - Despite a shaky 6 games to begin the season Nick proved to be everything that Real Salt Lake could possibly ask for him to be. While our record was horrendous it would have been much worse without a great season by this guy. Wins would have been draws, draws would have been losses, and close losses would have been floggings. He has a size disadvantage compared to many goalies around the league and even his competition at home, but he makes up for it with his decision making. Had 2007 not have gone so well he would probably be feeling more pressure from up and coming Chris Seitz, but with Nick proving he belongs and Seitz spending so much time wearing the red, white, and blue it should be Rimando's job to keep throughout the season. In 2007 he had a 1.37 GAA with 146 saves throughout the season.

Chris Seitz (wiki) 6'3" 236 lbs. - Chris Seitz is already being marked as the next big thing for US soccer and he has done very well with the U-23 team. He didn't fair as well with Real Salt Lake though in his three starts. In those games he started RSL lost 2, tied one, and Chris gave up 8 goals to his 6 saves giving him a 2.67 GAA. That is not enough to judge his ability to thrive in MLS, but it was enough to assure fans that Nick was the right guy for the job in Chris' rookie year. There were rumors this offseason that a few teams, namely the Galaxy, were shopping around for Chris' services. This upsets RSL fans as many see him as the keeper of the future in Salt Lake City. Personally I'm of the mindset that he may be the most valuable trade bait that we have. If Nick can keep up to form we will be fine for years to come as he is only 28 years old. And while I like what Chris brings, I believe it will only be so long before he follows many of the American keepers before him and heads over to Europe. It may be wise to see what we can't get for him here (while being very picky) rather than watching him go to Europe for whatever pennies the league decides to throw at us.

Kyle Reynish (wiki) 6'3" 193 lbs. - The third keeper is often an irrelevant position when one considers the senior squad, but it won't be like that for Kyle Reynish this season. Kyle could be considered one of the most important 'thirds' in the league as Chris Seitz will be spending much of the summer in China. He was very successful in the high school and college rankings, but so was just about everybody else in the league. He did get to play in a few reserve games last season, but most of those minutes went to Seitz. In the two games he did start RSL reserves went 1-1 and he gave up a goal in each of the matches. Throughout the season he did come in those games that Seitz started around the 70 minute mark also for a tid-bit of experience.

With RSL going into a season with so many unknowns the keeper position may be one of the few places that we really know what we have to begin the season; a great starter with a backup that could be the future of US soccer. Not too shabby.