Year of the goalkeeper: Northeast Florida girls excel, both stopping and scoring goals

The referee's whistle blew for a foul inches outside the penalty area Thursday night, and everyone in the stadium for Atlantic Coast's Class 7A girls soccer district playoff knew what that meant: Gaby Rourke time.

Except she's a goalkeeper. And the other net stands more than 100 yards from a keeper's usual territory. But for Atlantic Coast head coach Kenny Mukasa, calling on his senior goalkeeper to turn into a scorer — as she did on two occasions in the first-round playoff against Sandalwood — doesn't even feel unusual anymore.

"I've seen it before, and I'm not amazed anymore," Mukasa said. "It's part of the reason I sent her up there [for free kicks] that far, because I know she can do it."

In a flash, the goalkeeper turned into a goal scorer, adding to the long list of goalkeeping highlights on the First Coast in girls soccer this winter.

Here a goalkeeper. There a goalkeeper. Everywhere a goalkeeper — and for some, goalkeeping is only one part of the assignment.

The year of the goalkeeper has arrived for high school girls soccer in the Jacksonville area, as the season rolls toward the Florida High School Athletic Association regional playoffs beginning in a week.

The result: quite possibly, the most distinguished crop of goalkeepers in recent memory on the First Coast.

In 2024, with versatile athletes adapting to life in the net and goalkeeping trainers providing specialized instruction not widely available to young keepers in past years, Jacksonville-area shot-stopping might be at its highest level to date.

On Tuesday evening, for example, fans at a Florida High School Athletic Association district tournament doubleheader could see a grand total of three future SEC goalkeepers in action during a single evening.

"There's probably not [been this level of goalkeeping] in my years here," said St. Johns Country Day coach Mike Pickett, in charge of the three-time national champions since 1999.

FUTURE SEC STARS SHINE IN CLASS 7A

Tuesday's District 1-7A semifinals might as well double as a regional goalkeeper showcase both for the goalkeeping, and maybe the scoring.

When Atlantic Coast is lining up a set play, the keeper on the defending side isn't the only one involved in the action. No matter the distance, Rourke has no fears about venturing far from her net to take aim at the opponent.

It paid off Thursday against Sandalwood for the multi-talented Kentucky signee. Her athletic pursuits include flag football, volleyball and gridiron football as Atlantic Coast's starting placekicker, and she's been smashing free kicks into the net for years as a field player from Atlantic Coast.

Amid the jeers of "overrated" from opposing fans, Rourke hit the net not once but twice from free kicks in Thursday's 4-2 Atlantic Coast win. First came a 20-yard screamer to the corner. Then, a targeted 45-yard shot that looped beneath the crossbar.

"It was like saying [to the crowd], 'I'm going to prove you wrong,'" Mukasa said.

Atlantic Coast's game Tuesday might preview SEC showdowns to come for Rourke. At Kentucky, she could eventually face off against Florida and Bartram Trail's keeper, junior Lily Holden, who committed to the Gators at the end of November.

She's already a proven state champion: Holden helped the Bears to the Class 7A title last February and the top of the United Soccer Coaches national poll, as goalkeeper on a Bartram Trail team that allowed only seven goals.

The goalkeeper who ranks among Northeast Florida's tallest girls soccer starters is, appropriately, on course for Rocky Top. Tocoi Creek junior Morgan Weaver, listed at 6-2, is committed to Tennessee and leads a Toros team that's fighting for a playoff berth in its third year. Playing against a top-10 schedule in Florida, Weaver has limited opponents to just over a goal per game.

Only one starting keeper in Tuesday's doubleheader remains uncommitted, but based on her performance this season, that might change before much longer. Sophomore Hailey Smith, starter for Class 7A No. 1 Creekside, hasn't lost a game all season.

DEPTH ACROSS FIRST COAST

Tuesday's doubleheader doesn't even begin to exhaust this year's goalkeeping talent on the First Coast. Just a few examples:

• A state champion as a freshman starter in 2021, Audrey Johnson could close her high school career with a second title in a month for Ponte Vedra. The senior, committed to South Florida, guards the net for a Sharks team ranked first statewide by the FHSAA.

• Ava Galani rose to immediate prominence in her freshman year, guarding the Episcopal net against heavy pressure in a 2022 run to the second round of regionals. Now a junior, the Eagles' keeper is committed to Memphis.

• At Stanton, junior Savannah Yerger has been a brick wall in knockout games for two seasons, solidifying the defense on the road to a surprise state semifinal appearance last winter and a Gateway Conference championship earlier this month.

Even at 14-time state champion St. Johns Country Day, a program that in past years has monopolized possession so thoroughly that its keepers often looked on as virtual spectators even in final-four matches, the Spartans' 2024 success is built on goalkeeper Roxy Mathews.

Against a schedule ranked toughest in the nation, the Columbus State-signed senior has allowed only 13 goals. And, like Atlantic Coast's Rourke, Mathews has prior experience as a field player, even scoring twice in the 2021 Class 2A state semifinal at Winter Park Geneva.

"Roxy's had to come up big time after time, save after save for us," Pickett said.

How long will the goalkeepers' surge last? Nobody knows. Maybe, in five years or so, Jacksonville's soccer pendulum will be in full swing toward the attacking end.

For now, though, goalkeepers are stealing the show.

"They see each other day in and day out, and they compete with each other," Mukasa said. "And that's how you get all of these power conference players."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville goalkeepers shine in FHSAA high school girls soccer