These last few years, Eric Luzzi and the men’s soccer staff haven’t had to worry about one of the most crucial spots on the field. This year, though, the goalkeeper spot is up for grabs.

With graduated standout Jordan Godsey out of the picture, the No. 1 goalkeeper spot is being fought for by the three goalkeepers on the 2013 roster.

Senior Miles Herbert, redshirt sophomore Andrew Glaeser and freshman Mike Pavliga have spent this preseason trying to impress the coaching staff, and all three have succeeded thus far. The question is: Which of the three will be in between the posts on Friday’s season opener against Cincinnati?

“We have three guys that don’t have a ton of minutes in Div. I games, but all three of them have proven that they’re more than ready to play for us,” Luzzi said. “I have confidence, the staff has confidence, the rest of the team has confidence in all three of them, and all I know is that when Thursday night and Friday morning roll around I’m going to have a really, really difficult decision picking one because all three of them have done pretty well.”

Of the three, Herbert is the familiar face in the locker room. The senior from Libertyville has been the backup to Godsey these past three years and has not seen any competitive game time.

Glaeser isn’t new to a Div. I program as he has transferred in from Oregon State after not seeing game time, while Pavliga is straight out of Naperville Central High School.

Herbert said the competition has been good for the group, but was also quick to give the new guys compliments.

“There’s been a lot of competition before; I’m no stranger to that,” Herbert said. “I came in and there was a really good goalkeeper in front of me, and I knew coming in this year…I didn’t have any guarantees and the guys they’ve brought in have been awesome. Talent-wise, they’re both very good: I think it’s the best goalkeeping group we’ve had since I’ve been here, and like I said there has been some really good goalkeeper’s here.”

In the two preseason matches the Huskies have not let in a goal, which is quite an accomplishment considering the three goalkeepers had gotten only 30 minutes of play time each. That means that two of them are jumping right into games, trying to feel the rhythm of the match.

One of the players who is expected to play in front of the three keepers is junior defender Dusty Page. Though Page does not have the inside track to the goalie situation, he feels comfortable with any one of them having his back in case he makes a mistake.

“It’s definitely awesome,” Page said. “They’ve all been competing really well and competition’s just going to breed better performances from all of them…they are all working hard and playing well so it’s good.”

With such a tight competition for the starting spot in net, Luzzi said there may be some alternatives opposed to just having a No. 1 keeper for the year.

“I would say we wouldn’t split time within a game,” Luzzi said. “…But I would say it’s not out of the realm of possibility that there would be some kind of a rotation.”