Correct Stance? Good drills? What's a Good Save Percentage for the Lacrosse Goalie?

Got this question today from Jenna: I just began playing lacrosse this year. I got to (School Witheld) and play on the varsity team as a freshmen. Our team didn't have a goalie and because I play goalie for hockey I decided I'll give it a shot. And I ended up just sticking with it.

My coach keeps telling me to use the vertical stick feet togethet stance. But I tend to use more of a hockey goalie stance. I tend to get beat up high at times, but I am pretty confident with bounce shots, as I tend to do more of a "butterfly" style hockey save. I am about 5'4. What would you suggest for a stance and stick position??

I have read some things that a goalie is supposed to stop the ball with their stick, but also that it really doesn't matter unless you stop the ball.

My teammates tell me that I am one of the best lacrosse goalies that they have had at my school. But I get really frustrated during games and stuff, because I have the mind set of a hockey goalie. We lost our last game 10-4, but I had 39 saves out of 49 shots. I usually have a 70% to 80% save percentage.

What are tips that you can give to a rookie goalie, regarding stance, stick postition, save type, etc??

Do you have any drills that I can work on myself, with a teammate, or even during practice that can help the whole team??

I've read a lot of things from this site and it has all been a great help!!

Keep up the great work with the site.

Jenna


Here's my answer: Hey there Jenna. Thanks for writing. I was a hockey goalie too at one time and I've watched goalies in hockey evolve over the years since I've played. Lacrosse goalies haven't evolved though so hopefully I can share with you some insight that will help.

Ok...as a hockey goalie with a wide butterfly stance you're not going to be making very "pretty" saves. Your coach has an old style stance in mind for you. The answer is to find a happy medium.

When you're in a wide stance you tend not to step to the ball as much as you should. It's just more difficult to do that. So while you're able to drop and get a lot of those low shots you're probably pretty set on your feet and just rotating your stick down to get them.

You're exactly right though...if you're making a save it's a save. You' just don't want to be giving up any rebounds.

I find that when I play my feet get a bit wide and that lowers me in the cage. I'm 5'8" and you're 5'4". But that's if we are standing straight up with our feet together. So for you, you have 8 inches above your head to the cross bar. If you get into a butterfly stance that drops you even lower so there is a lot of net upstairs to cover. To see just how much you need to move your stick to cover the top of the cage do this little exercise:

Stand on the goal line and turn and face the cage. Now get in your stance. Slowly look up without moving your stick. You can even have your coach take a tape measure and measure how far the top of your stick is to the cross bar. Now, without moving your body, reach your stick to the cross bar. Can you reach it? If the answer is no, you now know that no matter what you do a well placed shot is going to beat you. Try to reach to the off-stick high corner with your stick. So reach across your body. You'll have even more net exposed.

Now stand up a little. Move your feet together and see how far your stick is away from the crossbar. Can you make the save if a ball goes that high?

With all that being said, you never want to get too far from your natural stance. As a hockey goalie you have a stance that you work on daily so you're naturally going to want to get back to that stance. What you need to find is a happy medium between the two. What you want to find is your "athletic stance." Head up, chest up, hips bent, hands out, knees bent, ankles bent, ready to move in any direction. Think short stop in baseball. Think defensive ready position in basketball, or the ready position of a defensive linebacker in football. It's a more upright, more ready to move in any direction type stance. Then you add the stick and bring your top hand up towards your ear without bringing the stick closer to your body. Does that make sense?

If you ever watch Mikka Kiprusoff play for the flames he has two stances almost. He has a wide stance when the puck is in close, but when the puck is out at the point he stands up a bit. His feet come together and he gets nice and tall. That is the stance you want to adopt in the lacrosse goal. If you want to clarify any of this just email me. My email is on the front page of my goalie blog.

Your Coach: Whether or not your coach is a goalie doesn't matter. What he is trying to do is get you to look like all of the other lacrose goalies he has ever seen without truly understanding your height, your hockey background etc. He means well but he's probably just confusing you. I do think you need to stand up a little bit. Just from my experience being a hockey goalie and knowing what the tendencies are I think that's a safe bet. If you have some photos of you in the cage just email them to me and I'll give you a quick critique.

Save Percentage Mentality: Oh Jenna, Jenna, Jenna. I hear your pain on the save percentage thing. Please oh please don't get hung up on it though. The great thing about being a goalie is that we have a stat that no other player on the field has and that is the save percentage. At the end of the day when the scoreboard reads 10-4 and the team thinks they are really bad, we can smile and know that we just played our tail off. Stopping 70-80% of your shots is phenomenal. That's fantastic! 60% average. 65% stellar. 70% you're a stud (studette) 75% take off the princess cape. 80% tiara please. 85% fuggedaboutit. Seriously. From a lacrosse perspective you're doing great. Your team shouldn't be giving up that many shots to begin with. So you're homework is to focus on your save percentage and not the score. You're not going to be pulling down 90% and up like in hockey. The net is too big. The ball comes from all angles. It's just not the same. Got it?

Save Type: Ideally you'd like to catch everything but I think that is over rated. I've posted this on a couple of blogs and I'll repeat it hear: In every sport that has a goalie the goalie never reaches across their body to make a save. Sure, in hockey if someone dumps a puck in from the blue line you may reach across with your glove and pick it out of the air. But for some reason, in lacrosse, we think that should happen all the time and I think that is wrong. The game of lacrosse has gotten so fast that it's just impractical to catch everything with the stick. Over the last couple of years I've experimented with punching my bottom hand at the ball like a blocker in hockey on shots to my off stick hip. It makes no sense to me to try to catch the ball with my stick when I have a perfectly good piece of equipment there (glove) to deflect the ball.

Hockey goalie equipment has evolved over the years. First, pads got wider and were constructed to shut down the five hole. So goalies baited players to shoot there and they dropped to cover the ice. The pads do a lot of the work now. When I was taught to play hockey it was a strictly stand up, kick save style. Which seems really silly now. In fact, you would see goalies get "sloppy" and slip into a butterfly. Intuitively we knew better but coaching habits die hard. A hockey goalie is designed to really block, and deflect the puck. We are taught not to give up rebounds so we try to catch a ton whether that's with our glove or in our shirt. In lacrosse the goalie is basically...well...naked. It seems silly to put a goalie in a bigger goal, with a more active shooter and have him wear less equipment don't you think?

For you as a hockey goalie (and for those reading this who aren't) I think a great exercise would be for you to bring a lacrosse net onto the ice. Get in your hockey equipment and have a shooter with a lacrosse stick. Now get in the cage. Would you get in your butterfly stance? Probably not. Would you stand up with your feet together and your stick straight up and down in front of you? Probably not. Somewhere between the two you find a stance that makes sense for you and the cage that you are now in front of.

Drills: The best drill I can give you is more of a concept to use with you and your team. Here it is: When your shooters shoot in practice have them shoot to a specific spot. If they are working on one on ones have them come off their dodge and shoot stick side high. Or far pipe hip. Pick a place and make every one shoot there. They have to work on their accuracy and you can work on your technique. That's the biggest bang for the buck time saver I can give you. You become a better goalie. And they become better shooters. Also, have them shoot from a distance that you are comfortable with in practice. You don't want to be fearful of the ball at any point in practice. I have a couple blog posts on that topic.

So Jenna I hope this helps you. Please let me know if you have any questions. Shoot me an email and let me know what state you're in and keep me posted on your progress.

Kick butt and have fun. If you'd like your coach to get in touch with me you can pass on my email address to them as well.

Jonathan -
www.lacrossegoaltending.blogspot.com