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Sophomore
goalie Tara Gotthardt Matt Brown/CSULB Sports
Information
This
week's Nugget in the Rough: Tara Gotthardt
By
Michael Bower
Online Forty-Niner
Sports Editor
Goalie
Tara Gotthardt saved a career-best nine
shots on Sunday to help lead the Cal State
Long Beach women's soccer team to a 0-0
tie against the University of San Francisco,
which is why Gotthardt earns the honor of
being our first Nugget in the Rough this
year.
"[Gotthardt]
came in and did what she needed to do,"
Assistant Coach Eddie Soto said. "She
made some big time saves to keep the game
tied."
The
sophomore fended off six shots in the first
half of the 110-minute match. It was Gotthardt's
first match of the season starting at goalie
for the injured Meghan Hartwyk.
"On
Sunday she really showed us what she can
do at a high level," Goalie Coach Wendi
Whitman said.
Last
season she split the goaltending duties
with Hartwyk, appearing in eight games with
seven starts. The two athletes are expected
to platoon for the starting job this season.
"I
think [Gotthardt] has been working hard
all summer to try to win the first job,"
Whitman said.
Last
season Gotthardt allowed an average of 1.67
goals per game, the sixth-best single-season
average in school history. She stopped a
total of 32 shots and had one shutout against
Eastern Washington on Sept. 12 in which
she also recorded her previous-best five
saves. In the final three matches of last
season Gotthardt allowed one goal or less
and no goals over the final 72-minutes of
the season.
Gotthardt
comes to CSULB from Pleasanton, Calif.,
where she attended high school at Amador
Valley. While at Amador Valley, Gotthardt
was named to the All-East Bay Athletic League
as a senior where she helped lead her team
to a Sectional Championship in 2002.
After
high school, Gotthardt went to UCLA where
she redshirted as a freshman before moving
on to CSULB in 2003.
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