Men's Soccer

Syracuse turns to Hendrik Hilpert in mid-season goalkeeper switch

Riley Bunch | Staff Photographer

Hendrik Hilpert has started the last two games for Syracuse this season after Austin Aviza started the first nine.

Following Syracuse’s 2-0 win over Colgate on Sept. 29, Hendrik Hilpert told coaches he was ready. Freshman goalkeeper Austin Aviza just wrapped up his third shutout of the season, and Hilpert spent the last two weeks practicing on his knees.

A “high-octane” preseason battle between the two freshmen netminders lasted all of four days before Hilpert was sidelined with a tear in his quadriceps. Aviza was the impromptu victor, but Hilpert’s tryout was never resolved.

Three days after signaling his health to SU’s coaches, the culminating moment of a dormant competition came after breakfast at the team hotel in Durham, North Carolina, just hours before kickoff against Duke on Friday.

“The decision’s been made,” Hilpert recalled head coach Ian McIntyre telling him. “Go out and play. Help us win games.”

Aviza sat for the first time in nine games against the Blue Devils. The goalkeeper switch came despite Aviza averaging one goal allowed — a mark Hilpert’s matched through his first two games.     



McIntyre leaned on a coaching cliché — “game-to-game” — when asked about handling the goalkeeping situation. But the Orange’s head coach was adamant Hilpert needed experience, tipping him as the likely starter for No. 22 SU (8-2-1, 2-1-1 Atlantic Coast) when it travels to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to play No. 2 UNC (9-0-1, 4-0) on Saturday.

The plan has been for the team to get Hilpert a look in goal, McIntyre said, but uncertainty looms as Aviza said he has “no clue” at the length of Hilpert’s starting window, and the freshmen split reps in practice.

“I like situations when people put pressure on you,” Hilpert said. “I think I (have) a way to enjoy these situations. I’m not nervous, I try to see the opportunities.”

With Aviza playing every minute between the posts in practice and games, Hilpert put up a façade of competition while injured. He kneeled on the sidelines during practice and had goalkeepers coach Matt Stith throw balls at his chest while Aviza fended off real shots.

Stith was shocked at the rate at which Hilpert recovered, continuously taking balls straight to his chest without leaning to his left or right.

“His technique is unbelievable,” Stith said. “I’ve never seen someone work as hard as he did to get back.”

Hilpert boasts an equally strong left and right foot — a skill Stith dubbed “super sick” —, which Aviza said is unusual to see from a goalkeeper in American soccer. He works on his footing during games — shuffling his feet forward going to the left, then back and to the right, left again and then back right.

He’s used the entire box to accumulate five saves through two starts, sprawling to his left to making a diving save against Albany on Tuesday. He leapt high to the right to deflect a booming shot from Duke destined for the upper-left corner — his first career save.

Instead of describing the moment days later, Hilpert pulled out his phone to show off the video of the play his friends sent him. He smiled looking down at his phone screen, slyly remarking he was unsurprised he stopped the shot.

“For him, it’s routine,” Stith said of Hilpert’s save. “For other goalkeepers, it’s not. He made it look so easy.

“I’m sitting on my couch thinking like, ‘Damn.’”

Hilpert brings versatility in net that perhaps Aviza lacked in the eyes of Syracuse’s coaches. The Orange ranks last in the ACC with 2.30 saves per game while allowing nearly three and a half shots on goal per game.

The plan may have been to give Hilpert the season-opening nod in goal, but an early-season injury derailed that prospect. McIntyre maintains the competition is an open one, but it’s clear SU wants to see what Hilpert has to offer.

“Maybe the easy decision is to go with Austin, but I have a lot of faith in both of our goalkeepers,” McIntyre said. “…The only way you’re ever going to get an opportunity is to play.”





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