A conversation with Courage/USWNT goalkeeper Casey Murphy and Rutgers GK coach Lubos Ancin

For the last 8 years, goalkeeper Casey Murphy has relied on Rutgers University assistant Lubos Ancin as her personal goalkeeping coach.

Since the 25-year old Murphy arrived at RU as a freshman, the two have worked hand in hand through 4 college seasons (including a College Cup appearance in 2015) and a pro career with the NC Courage of the NWSL. 

After making her debut with the US women’s national team in a November friendly against Australia, Murphy has been called into January camp, which she began today.

Here’s my conversation with Murphy and Ancin, edited for length and clarity, is below.

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GC: Casey, congratulations on getting called into camp.

CM: Thank you, Glenn.

GC: You're welcome. And you know, you've been with Lubos a long time now. Why has Lubos - I know he's right here with you - but why has Lubos been the right keeper coach for you?

CM: Well, yeah, I've been with Lubos since my freshman year in college; and I wish it was prior to that, because who knows where I'd be. I started with him my first year at Rutgers, and I've been working with him for eight years now. And every offseason, I make it a point to come back to Jersey to train because I feel like I’m bale to grow so much on the field and be able to have open communication on the plan for the offseason and things that I need to improve on and things that he sees in me that needs some work. And also, the sessions are super competitive, and Lubos brings great energy and thoroughly planned out so that I'm getting the most out of them. And so that's why every offseason, I make it a point to come back home and train with him.

GC: Lubos, so why have you spent this much time with Casey. You're taking a lot of your own time to do this planning. What is it about Casey?

LA: Casey and I go a long way back. As Casey said, we started her freshman year and that bond that was created from that point on, it's something that will last forever. You know, I enjoy every second, Casey's special. It's not that I'm helping her - it's even more. She's helping me become a better coach.

GC: Well you goalkeepers, you know, you have that unique position where field players, they might tire and there's more rotation for the outfield players. And in goal, that's not always the case, because you were called in 2 other times by the national team, but did not get that first appearance. So, when you say you were surprised, was it maybe because of those experiences - it was almost like, ‘I don't know when this is gonna happen’?

CM: Yeah, definitely. Like I was just, you know, reflecting back on my 2021 year. And I remember being at SheBelieves [Cup] earlier in the year and being the third string. And even for that, I would wear my heart rate monitor and my heart rate was so high as a third string. And it was just, you know, and then by the end of the year, I was getting the opportunity to start in the games, and I think where I grew as a player was being able to channel those emotions once a game did start. And that's where I've grown - I feel like in this past season, especially, was being able to control those emotions and be mentally strong. And despite, you know, having worked literally my whole life for this opportunity, I still felt like I was able to be calm and collected in goal and remember what I needed to do for the team to be successful.

GC: I want to talk about the 2 saves against Australia. Lubos, the first one that, Sam Kerr got in close - one of the top players in the world. Casey makes a kick save [on Kerr]. That seems to to be something that's developed over the years in goalkeeping. How much do you work on something like that with Casey? How do you recreate that sort of moment?

LA: I think I always try to explain it to all my goalkeepers - that it's a reactionary save, You don't plan and you don't train to make a kick save because you always try to get your hands on the ball and try to protect the ball and save the ball before rebounds. So, a kick save usually happens from a closer range, and it’s so reactionary when the ball is in that position between the hand and the foot, where it's very hard to get your body down. So, do we train it? Yes, we do. But again, we always say that look, if you can make a save and hold on to the ball, that's what you want to do. You do need to train to make sure that in some of those situations and where the ball is positioned that your foot is in the proper set position. 

GC: Casey, she came in to your right and was very close. I wonder how often have you seen in training a ball right in that right spot and Lubos smashing it low and hard to the back post? And you've had to come up with a similar save?

CM: Yeah, what's great about Lubos is he does create a lot of game-like scenarios like that. He tries to replicate like movements and actions and forwards that I might see in the match. Over the years in many of our sessions I've been in scenarios like that, where I've had to use my foot or react in a way like I did in the Australia game for that save. 

GC: The other save I remember - Caitlin Ford got in close this was to your left. And she hit something that appeared to be dipping. And it looked very much like it was at a great chance to go in goal and you parried it over the bar. 

CM: I think throughout our sessions, we always try and vary that service. So, whether it's Lubos hitting a drop kick, or a volley dipping in or striking from the ground, or from his hands challenging me - a 1 save or 2 save or 3 save scenario. There's so many options. And there have been a lot of moments in Lubos sessions where we work on shot-stopping from the angles So again, it’s another scenario that I've worked on with him. And obviously, it just comes down to me being set and balanced in my position. 

GC: Casey is 6-foot 1 - a tall keeper. The first thing I think of is beat them low. What were some of the things that were important that you trained to where being 6’1 is not a detriment to getting to those low shots?

LA:  I think the things that Casey mentioned - to make sure that she’s set and balanced, because I truly believe that that's such a strength and when she is set set, she's very, very, very hard to beat. 

GC: You two worked out today and you're preparing for a big moment for yourself, Casey, getting back into national camp and Alyssa Naher is there. She's been the number one for a long time, so we know there's massive competition. What did you work on today and why?

CM: In today's session, we worked more on a cutback ball so I saw a lot of shots within 15 yards today. So, a lot of reps with different reaction saves where I had to come to the near post, set the balance, either try and win the cut back cross or just turn in set for the shot. Especially going into a January training camp it’s a lot of intense trainings. Lubos is making sure my fitness is where it needs to be going into a camp since it will be more training focused then game focus. A lot of movements today, a lot of footwork, back and forth up and down so I'm goalkeeper fit and ready to go for camp.

GC: Lubos, why work on the cutbacks? Is it because it's one of those difficult moments for a keeper to decide what to do?

LA: It's such a huge part of today's game. And a lot of teams are doing that to try to obviously change the point and overload one side and making those runs in the box and with traffic. It's such an important part for goalkeeping to be able to deal with every moment – being at the right spot at the right moment and those saves are very, very hard to make. So, that's one part of why we chose that today. Also, it's five days before camp. This is probably the last time I can get a proper physical effort from Casey, making sure that she's not going to camp tired. 

GC: What do you think is the next step in the development of keepers. The feet have been emphasized in recent years with teams building from the back through the keeper.

LA: I think the feet is still kind of a new thing for a lot of goalkeepers. The rule of playing out of the box and your defenders being in your box is still kind of new. So how do they make that better and develop how to utilize that to their advantage is going to be I think still the next thing. The distribution of the goalkeepers and starting the counterattack is such a big emphasis and it’s going to continue to evolve. So, I think that distribution hasn't been properly touched on and developed the way it needs to be.

GC: Casey, how much has the necessity of good feet changed along the way.

CM: Definitely a crucial part. Especially college to professional level the speed of play was the biggest change. I’m coming off a season [with Courage] where the coach really preached building out of the back - having to hold a higher position to be more of an option in the build out to have a more numbers up situation in certain scenarios. So just really starting to understand the game and my role. But I think the biggest thing is reading the game and switching it up. I think too often a coach says, ‘you have to always build on the back’. You need to listen to your coach and understand what they want but also be able to feel the game, manage the game and switch it up. Sometimes clip a ball long or clear it over the backline. Just being versatile and not so predictable. 

GC: What is the next step for Casey?

LA: Let her play. That's the next level. Let her play and show you what she can do because I've seen it for over eight years. I always say this with Casey - there is not a day that she doesn't surprise me with something spectacular. And that's rare that they come up with something that you're like, ‘wow, I did not know you can do that’. And Casey does that on an everyday basis. For me, I hope that they give her a chance to kind of just let her go, let her be, and just see what she can do. I believe that she will amaze everybody the way she amazes me every day.

GC: You've had a consistent experience with the U-20s but you haven't experienced sitting on the bench. What are some of the things you do to make sure that you maintain engagement in a match.

CM: Something that I started more so in the last few years is coaching. And that's been a great perspective for me. It's constantly being a student of the game. And I think all those perspectives are important whether it's on the sideline or watching a game on the TV or coaching. There's so much you can learn from all those perspectives. So it's having a mindset where you want to learn and you want to grow as a player. I’ll do that the rest of my career.