There is a wide array of responsibilities and pressures that accompany being a starting goalkeeper at a major program.
Imagine dealing with those pressures while also trying to get back into shape after missing an entire preseason. Now imagine that missed preseason was spent recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery.
This was reality for Tennessee starting goalkeeper Jamie Simmons.
After three-year starter Julie Eckel went down with an injury, Simmons, a junior transfer from UNC Greensboro, was named the Lady Vols starting goalkeeper at the beginning of the season.
Despite making her first start as a Lady Vol in difficult circumstances, Tennessee head women’s soccer coach Brian Pensky was impressed by Simmons performance as the new Tennessee goalkeeper.
“I think she has done well so far, especially for a goalkeeper without any preseason,” said Pensky. “She had arthroscopic surgery on her knee around July 30, so her first practice was about five days before the Milwaukee game. So she was not as fit as she could be or as sharp as she could be, but she still has done very well. Bottom line is she is an experienced goalkeeper.”
Pensky recruited Simmons because he needed another goalkeeper after Hannah Steadman transferred in the spring. It only took one visit to convince Simmons that Tennessee was the right place for her.
“I decided I wanted to take the goalkeeper position to a different school just for some personal reasons,” Simmons said. “When I started looking I wanted to go to a great soccer program, a great school academically. So I came here. I had a couple of visits to some other schools, but I came here and loved it. Decided, no I don’t (want to take visits to other schools). It was all about Tennessee at that point on.”
Pensky named Simmons the starter goalkeeper over freshman Alexis Smith before the Milwaukee game, citing her “resume” and “experience” as the coaching staff’s reason for giving the junior transfer the start.
So far, Simmons has not disappointed. Through five games, Simmons has allowed only three goals while accumulating 11 saves.
It is imperative to the Lady Vols’ success that Simmons continues to perform at a high level. A goalkeeper who allows easy goals deflates a team’s morale.
A great goalkeeper, though, can keep her team in games against superior teams. A save from a goalkeeper can change the course of a game.
According to Pensky, Simmons had one of those saves against Western Kentucky last Friday.
“At Western Kentucky last week, we are up 1-0 under pressure late in the first half, and she makes a spectacular save, a back to bar save where she jumps and tips it over the bar,” he said. “They have a great crowd out there and that game goes 1-1 before the half, who knows what happens in the second half in that game. So Jaime in her short time has already made keep-us-in-the-game, keep-us-ahead-of-the-game kind of saves.”
In the midst of making game changing saves, Simmons continues to strive towards becoming a better goalkeeper.
“Personal goal is to just keep playing, try to stay healthy, get better every single day individually in practice and games,” she said.
