Kuzmich's confidence leading to success for the Pride

It isn’t often that a true freshman comes in and takes arguably the most important position on the field, but that is exactly what Abington, Massachusetts native Skylar Kuzmich did.

“Wherever I was placed, if it was right for the team, I was going to accept that. [My expectation] was that I was just going to work my butt off for the team, and that’s all I really wanted,” Kuzmich said.

Beating out sophomores Grace Watson-Carr and Gabriella Naletilic and senior Sabrina Painter, Kuzmich has been Hofstra’s starting goalie each and every game so far this season, playing to a level beyond her years. Kuzmich’s play and “do-whatever-it-takes” attitude earned her the trust of her head coach, who has put her out there since kickoff of the opening game of the season.

“Initially, there was obviously a physical size,” said head coach Simon Riddiough said. “She’s 5-(feet)-11. She’s a big, strong kid. She covers a lot of goal ... that was the first thing that I noticed.”

But it wasn’t just gaining the trust of her coach that was paramount. Forming tight bonds and gaining trust with her teammates, most of whom step on the field with her each and every day, is vital to team unity and success. Kuzmich has a whole team counting on her to do her job; a group that needs to trust her in order for both her and the team to be at their best. And to gain the trust of her team, she had to earn it.

“Honestly, I think just by making saves, the more we’ve practiced as a team [has helped],” Kuzmich said. “And I think team chemistry has a lot to do with it too. I’ve gotten really close with some of the upperclassmen on the team. I think that [helped] with trust on the field. Playing every day with them, especially preseason where we have two-a-days, I could really show them that I’m in it to win it and I will work hard for everyone.”

As one might expect, the Pride have had a few bumps in the road, as has Kuzmich in particular, losing to Penn State 6-0, and falling to Rutgers 4-1. But bumps in the road are to be expected for someone so young and with such little experience. Growth and improvement, especially before the start of conference play, are what’s most critical at this point in the season.

“After the first four or five games, she’s started to garner that confidence, that composure, that air that you need as a goalkeeper,” Riddiough said. “She’s developing tremendously on the mental side of things.” 

“I think my awareness has gotten better as we’ve gone on in the season,” Kuzmich said. “Me playing more on the collegiate level has gotten me better increasingly every game. We did allow a lot of goals in the first half of the season, and a lot of those were due to my mistakes, and mistakes from the team. But I think we’re all working and we’re all getting better as the season goes on. I think by [conference play], it will definitely be so much better than the beginning of the season.”

With her and the team’s improvement, Hofstra is now on a three-game winning streak, while giving up no more than one goal in each of the three games. The whole team’s play is continuing to improve. Additionally, while they did struggle in their two most high-profile games, the Pride have given up just .833 goals per game against unranked opponents. Against teams they should take care of, Hofstra is handling its business, led in part by their star freshman goalkeeper.

Her team-first perspective isn’t just there when it comes to improvement. It’s also prevalent for her when it comes to success. She knows she is just a spoke on the wheel, just a cog in the machine and that the defense in front of her makes her job a lot easier. She must rely on them, just as they must rely on her. 

“The back four [are] blending [together] now,” Riddiough said after a recent win over Fairleigh Dickinson University. 

When told of her coaches’ assessment, Kuzmich said, “A lot of our defenders who have been playing this year are freshmen as well. So, I think that’s what he meant by blending ... that we’re all trying to get there too.”

She said, “Right now, we have [two sophomores and two freshmen] playing in the back, and even though we’re young, I think that even the upperclassmen telling us what to do is really helping us cohesively move together.”

The back four, led in part by Annabel Hofmann, Anja Suttner, Marlene Fries and Lily Stavisky, have certainly helped make Kuzmich’s job much easier, and, along with the rest of the team, have also been a key reason for the Pride’s recent stretch of good play. They are also a huge reason why Kuzmich has two shutouts this season – tied for the most in the conference.

Just like any athlete needs confidence to be successful, in order for Kuzmich to be able to continue her success and improve upon it, she knows she has to have a certain level of it. And just like her on-field performance, for the freshman goalkeeper, confidence is something that is improving each day as the season goes along.

“In some games, I’ve let up a lot of goals,” Kuzmich said. “Obviously, that’s rough, but you just have to tell yourself that you can’t let up anymore. I had a coach tell me once to have a goldfish mentality. A goldfish goes around a bowl and forgets the next thing by the time he comes around. So, I think what I do is kind of just forget. I keep it in the back of my mind, but I don’t dwell on it. By the next play, I try to be ready.”

Ready is what Kuzmich and the Pride will need to be, because they open up their much-anticipated conference schedule Thursday, Sept. 26, at home against Drexel University. 

Ready or not, here they come.

Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics