Jan. 28, 2015
By Maria Canales, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Since third grade, Connor Darcey has been a lacrosse player. As a child, he started off playing attack and midfield. Darcey was thrown into the goalie position when his older brother's team lacked a goaltender. He stuck with this position and has developed his skills over the years, taking in every opportunity given to him.
The biggest opportunity so far for Darcey has been playing lacrosse for Penn State under head coach Jeff Tambroni. A four-year starting goalie for Wellesley High School in Massachusetts, Darcey came to Penn State for academics and athletics. Although Darcey didn't see any action in the 2013 season and therefore was chosen to redshirt, he played in two games during the 2014 campaign.
"After his freshman year, we chose to red shirt Connor because we felt that was going to be the next logical progression after Austin Kaut graduated," said Tambroni.
Austin Kaut is a household name; he started almost every game in net for the Nittany Lions between 2011 and 2013, and started all 17 games his senior season in 2014. The 2015 campaign will be Tambroni's first year as the Penn State coach without Kaut in net.
Filling Kaut's big shoes is a challenge Darcey has faced head on. Darcey used his two seasons behind Kaut as an opportunity to learn from the four-year starter, while improving his own skills in the net.
"I think being in the position that I was in was extremely beneficial," said Darcey. "I got to see one of the better goalies go through the system in Austin Kaut. I had the lucky fortune of being behind him and making the transition from high school into college lacrosse was definitely a lot easier. He showed me how to communicate, command your defense, and just be a part of a collegiate team, which was huge."
When it comes to molding goaltenders, Tambroni says it is a team effort amongst all the coaches.
"Coach Toner will talk to him about defensive schemes and communication skills within the defense," said Tambroni. "I'll talk to him more about game management and preparation, and Coach Doctor will talk to him about day to day work and his technique and make sure he's in a good place mentally. We'll have a three-headed monster going into this spring."
Tambroni will be the first person to say that being a goalie is tough, both mentally and physically. Having coached goalies for over 15 years, Tambroni knows what is going on inside their heads. The mental capability one must have to stand in the crease and withstand the opposing teams attackers is comparable to very little outside the realm of lacrosse. Tambroni measures a successful goalie, not just by wins, but also by his overall leadership and presence on the field. It's not only important for the goalie to take control of the defense, but also give them feedback and motivation after a goal is scored against them.
"After every goal our defense brings it together," said Tambroni. "Our defense has a huddle and Connor's in there and we would like him to be part of that discussion. He can see it as the back line of defense in terms of what went wrong. You only have about 20 to 30 seconds to evaluate and communicate effectively to a group of six guys who are emotionally just not in the right place to hear anything from anyone else, especially if they feel they made the mistake. So leadership, and his ability to communicate to our team, especially our defense, is keys to a successful goalie."
The rest of the Nittany Lions defense, including senior defenseman JP Burnside, has noticed the hard work Darcey has put in before the start of the season.
"Connor has stepped up and he's doing a really good job," said Burnside. "He was in the film room every day so he's really just stepped into the roll and he's doing great."
From early morning workouts to late nights watching film, Darcey has prepared himself as best as possible for the difficult 2015 campaign. His confidence in net has developed, and with one more scrimmage against Lehigh on the schedule, Darcey looks to end the pre-season strong. He hopes to get the team in a good mental state before the regular season opener against Vermont on Feb. 7.
"With each day you get more confident," said Darcey. "And you build the momentum going into the first game which will be huge for us."
The Nittany Lions host Lehigh in an exhibition game Saturday in Holuba Hall at 3pm.