Indiana University Athletics
SARAH GREEVEN: Goalie Competition Taking IUWP To New Heights
6/16/2020 4:10:00 PM | Women's Water Polo
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—Sophomore Sarah Greeven was one of three goalies on the IU Water Polo squad this season. After a freshman season where she saw the majority of the minutes in the net for the Hoosiers with 424, that dropped to 186 in her sophomore season with the emergence of fellow sophomore Mary Askew. Greeven still made the most of her minutes with 50 saves, which was 10th in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) and also improved her goals against average from 12.53 to 7.48 per contest.
Despite the drop in minutes, Greeven does not see that as a bad thing. In fact, it is quite the opposite. According to Greeven, by having multiple goalies who get quality playing time, it keeps everyone on their feet, which will help make everyone better. This scenario also allows the coaches to play different goalies in different situations based on each goalie's strengths.
MPSF play was canceled this spring due to COVID-19 but Greeven sees the Hoosiers' style of play adapting and moving toward the style of play that the other teams in the conference play out on the West Coast. This will make the goalie competition even more important as the goalies' jobs will get harder. In an interview with IUHoosiers.com, Greeven said that goalies are like the "quarterback" of the team because they move the defense and recite the plays as well as complete other communication tactics. With the new style of play and a harder press, the job for the goalies and being at their best at all times will be much more important.
The goalie competition proved to be beneficial this season as the Hoosiers finished on a 10-game win streak, which is tied for the third longest in school history. In those 10 games, the most goals the Hoosier defense gave up was 10 against CSU East Bay as the Hoosiers gave up less than 10 goals in 12 of their 18 games. IU won all 12 of those games. If the goalies and Hoosier defense can continue this dominance in 2021, they will will undoubtedly be able to take this team to a new height and be able to compete with top teams like USC, UCLA and Stanford in the MPSF.
The full transcription from the interview that IUHoosiers.com conducted with Greeven can be seen immediately below.
Q: On competition with the other goalies…
GREEVEN: It's always high as a goalie. It's always good to have high competition as a goalie. You never want to be complacent as a goalie because once you get complacent you think everything is going to be okay. Competition between two or three goalies is always great to have because it pushes you to do more and be the best you can for everybody inside the pool and outside the pool.
Q: On your sophomore season…
GREEVEN: I learned that you should never take anything for granted and you never know when it's going to be your last practice. I've learned that when you show up to practice putting your best foot forward is the best you can do for the team. I've also taken that we were the underdogs last season so always having that mindset that you are the underdog in the conference really boosts your confidence when you play those games because you really have nothing else to lose. It really pushed us through the season and we won more games than we had my freshman year.
Q: On being a leader as a goalie and how you are improving at that…
GREEVEN: As a goalie, we're not the only one that leads the team but we do a lot for the defensive part of the team. We're kind of like the quarterbacks of the team if you want to kind of look at it like that. We direct the team when we shot block. We recite the plays. We look at the whole entire pool and see what's going on. We communicate to my teammates and we're able to fix spots that are loopholes where the defense can come in. It takes a whole unit for us to lead the game.
Q: On having multiple goalies that play quality minutes…
GREEVEN: It's important to have two quality goalies because it gives the coaches an opportunity to play us at our strong suits. It's very crucial because Mary (Askew) is better at some things and I'm better at other things. It gives the coach and the team some lee-way. It's also really nice in practice because it's just not one goalie that all the girls gravitate toward. It makes it fair for everyone to get good one-on-one time with the goalie and improve their shots.
Q: On what we should expect in your junior season…
GREEVEN: We should expect more of a heavier press. More of our teams in our conference are heavy press and they're constantly moving on defense. We want to incorporate this into our next year by having a heavy press. We should expect a lot more steals and one-on-one shot blocks and more communication on the defensive end of the pool.
Despite the drop in minutes, Greeven does not see that as a bad thing. In fact, it is quite the opposite. According to Greeven, by having multiple goalies who get quality playing time, it keeps everyone on their feet, which will help make everyone better. This scenario also allows the coaches to play different goalies in different situations based on each goalie's strengths.
MPSF play was canceled this spring due to COVID-19 but Greeven sees the Hoosiers' style of play adapting and moving toward the style of play that the other teams in the conference play out on the West Coast. This will make the goalie competition even more important as the goalies' jobs will get harder. In an interview with IUHoosiers.com, Greeven said that goalies are like the "quarterback" of the team because they move the defense and recite the plays as well as complete other communication tactics. With the new style of play and a harder press, the job for the goalies and being at their best at all times will be much more important.
The goalie competition proved to be beneficial this season as the Hoosiers finished on a 10-game win streak, which is tied for the third longest in school history. In those 10 games, the most goals the Hoosier defense gave up was 10 against CSU East Bay as the Hoosiers gave up less than 10 goals in 12 of their 18 games. IU won all 12 of those games. If the goalies and Hoosier defense can continue this dominance in 2021, they will will undoubtedly be able to take this team to a new height and be able to compete with top teams like USC, UCLA and Stanford in the MPSF.
The full transcription from the interview that IUHoosiers.com conducted with Greeven can be seen immediately below.
Q: On competition with the other goalies…
GREEVEN: It's always high as a goalie. It's always good to have high competition as a goalie. You never want to be complacent as a goalie because once you get complacent you think everything is going to be okay. Competition between two or three goalies is always great to have because it pushes you to do more and be the best you can for everybody inside the pool and outside the pool.
Q: On your sophomore season…
GREEVEN: I learned that you should never take anything for granted and you never know when it's going to be your last practice. I've learned that when you show up to practice putting your best foot forward is the best you can do for the team. I've also taken that we were the underdogs last season so always having that mindset that you are the underdog in the conference really boosts your confidence when you play those games because you really have nothing else to lose. It really pushed us through the season and we won more games than we had my freshman year.
Q: On being a leader as a goalie and how you are improving at that…
GREEVEN: As a goalie, we're not the only one that leads the team but we do a lot for the defensive part of the team. We're kind of like the quarterbacks of the team if you want to kind of look at it like that. We direct the team when we shot block. We recite the plays. We look at the whole entire pool and see what's going on. We communicate to my teammates and we're able to fix spots that are loopholes where the defense can come in. It takes a whole unit for us to lead the game.
Q: On having multiple goalies that play quality minutes…
GREEVEN: It's important to have two quality goalies because it gives the coaches an opportunity to play us at our strong suits. It's very crucial because Mary (Askew) is better at some things and I'm better at other things. It gives the coach and the team some lee-way. It's also really nice in practice because it's just not one goalie that all the girls gravitate toward. It makes it fair for everyone to get good one-on-one time with the goalie and improve their shots.
Q: On what we should expect in your junior season…
GREEVEN: We should expect more of a heavier press. More of our teams in our conference are heavy press and they're constantly moving on defense. We want to incorporate this into our next year by having a heavy press. We should expect a lot more steals and one-on-one shot blocks and more communication on the defensive end of the pool.
Players Mentioned
Goalkeeper
/ Women's Water Polo
Goalkeeper
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