If there is one thing that the Oswego State Lakers women’s soccer team can always rely on it is their goalkeeper, Melissa Siegfried.

Siegfried has been a staple to the Oswego State women’s soccer team for the past two seasons. She has put up tremendous stats in the past, posting four shutouts as well as recording a .777 save percentage and 1.41 goals against average in 2015.

This year she has continued her success and has gotten two clean-sheet victories in the first eight games of the season and has improved her goals against average to 1.19, which ranks her sixth out of the 11 eligible SUNYAC keepers.

You can tell from watching the games that she holds a leadership role on the team just by the way she plays. Shouting words of encouragement from the net while her team is on the attack. All of this has helped her team get off to an overall record of 4-2-2.

“I think we are doing a good job of communicating with each other when we need to,” Siegfried said. “But as always there are going to be things that we need to work on and we are making sure that we are doing it in practice, because how you practice is how you’re going to play.”

Siegfried admits the improved offensive play from the Lakers has helped her in net.  The pace of the offense and them being able to take pressure off her shoulders is exactly what Oswego State needs.

“It is definitely a higher scoring team than last year, which is definitely good,” Siegfried said. “We need those points on the board and it feels good to score, which I think is keeping us in a lot of these games.”

The offense she is referring to is scoring nearly two goals a game, which is something every goalie loves to see their team do. Improving in certain areas is something that each player has to do in order to perform at a higher level.

Melissa Siegfried is no different.

“Last year I think I got a little too much in my head and I’m kind of just focusing on where I’m at in the game and not thinking 20 minutes ahead and just focusing on what I need to do right now,” Siegfried said. “I have to make sure that I am talking to my backline and telling people where I want them to go on the field.”

Communicating with each other has helped the Lakers with their solid start to the season.

Every team and every player has certain goals they want to achieve going forward. This is the same case with Siegfried and her team. There are certain goals that she not only wants to reach but also wants her team to reach their own personal goals.

“For the team I think that we should and can get into the playoffs again,” she said. “I think we can get further than the semi-finals and make a finals appearance and make history again because, that’s what we like to do as a team. For myself I want to have a higher shutout total than last year and I do want to beat my save percentage from last year.”

Siegfried is just two shutouts shy of eclipsing her four total shutouts from last season. Her current save percentage sits at .714 and Siegfried isn’t far off from reaching her .777 mark from a year ago.

Having these goals and always trying to improve has put the senior goalkeeper in two of the Oswego State women’s soccer record books.

Siegfried currently sits tied for ninth place in shutouts with six career clean sheets. Toby Klein and Christina Fregosi share the ninth place spot with her. She also has posted 12 career wins, which ties her with Klein and Kelly Cheeseman in that category.

“I honestly didn’t know I was that close and I didn’t know the numbers, but I think it just shows how far I’ve come,” Siegfried said. “If I put in the work I’m going to get the results and it’s more of a reason to keep pushing myself.”

This is Siegfried’s final season with the team.  Her athletic career has brought her to this point as she looks to cement her Laker legacy.

“I transferred here from another college and it’s been good,” Siegfried said. “I think that we have a good community with sports and we all know each other and make sure that we’re supporting each other and I never regretted transferring here.”

Siegfried’s value as a goalie is showing this year and she has all the right tools to keep her early success rolling into the heart of the Lakers’ SUNYAC schedule.

Oswego State will be on the road this weekend facing SUNY Plattsburgh and SUNY Potsdam.