Here’s who won the starting goalkeeper job for Kansas City’s new NWSL soccer team
Kansas City NWSL coach Huw Williams confirmed Wednesday that Abby Smith will be the team’s starting goalkeeper to open the 2021 season.
“She has earned that right (to start),” Williams said. “She has come out throughout preseason here ready to battle, ready to earn that spot, and she is clearly our number one goalkeeper right now.”
Smith has been a regular starter since arriving at the club in 2018 when it was still based in Utah, but Williams was open to competition following its relocation to KC.
The 28-year-old goalkeeper had to fend off competition from veteran goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart and 2019 Utah graduate Carly Nelson, acquired from the OL Reign in December.
Although Smith has been starting for the last couple of years and the decision should be a simple one, that doesn’t make the personal implications any easier for Williams.
The last time Williams was involved with this club was in 2017 with FC Kansas City, as the team was known before relocating to Utah. Williams was the assistant coach to Vlatko Andonovski, who now coaches the U.S. Women’s National Team, and got to know Barnhart well.
“I have a history with Nicole — actually, it’s hard for me to call her Nicole — I have a history with Barnie, and Amy (Rodriguez) as well, and other players as well, like Desi (Scott), and so on, on this team,” Williams said. “But from day one, I sat down with every single player, including those guys, to say, ‘Listen, there’s nothing guaranteed. You have to earn your spot.’”
Ultimately it came down to competition and Smith who won that spot.
“That’s the reality of any sports job, really. And they understand it, they get it,” Williams said. “Actually, I’d be very, very disappointed if players were OK with losing their position because of that.”
Williams has been clear since the start of preseason that he expects his goalkeepers to play with their feet and act as an extra defender. When KC goes on the offensive, one of the outside backs will join in on the attack. The goalkeeper will be expected to cover some of the open space left behind by that marauding defender — 30 yards on either side of the goal and up to the back line.
The goalkeepers will also be expected to play with their feet and help move the ball around the back of the field.
“I feel like that kind of plays into my strengths,” Smith said. “I try and be mobile as possible or try to be as helpful on the field as I can be.”
Smith has learned plenty from Barnhart. The 39-year-old goalkeeper is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a World Cup runner-up and has two NWSL championships to her name — with FCKC in 2014 and 2015.
“I think she’s got so much knowledge and sometimes it’s just little things of picking her brain and hearing what she has to say in different scenarios,” Smith said. “I think just kind of watching how she reads the game, I think that’s something I’ve learned a lot about her since I’ve been training and playing with her.”
Smith will get her first chance to represent Kansas City on April 9 in the Challenge Cup. KC travels to Oregon to play the Portland Thorns in the club’s first competitive game, with kickoff set for 9:30 p.m. Central.
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Here’s who won the starting goalkeeper job for Kansas City’s new NWSL soccer team."