Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Christopher Widman is not the vocal leader of the men’s soccer team. He’s not the most charismatic or flashy guy on the field.
But when 10 of 12 of the Wolfpack’s (4-5-3, 0-3-1 ACC) games have been decided by one goal or tied, it’s become quite obvious to coach George Tarantini that a lot of responsibility rests on Widman this season, and much of N.C. State’s success has been in part because of his improvement.
“I think so tremendously,” Tarantini said. “He really worked hard this summer, he’s matured this year coming up. Unfortunately, we’re not really helping him that much. It’s a shame, because he’s really been doing well.”
According to Widman, this season has been a bit of a disappointment, as the team has yet to win a conference match and has lost three of its last four matches overall. Still, with Widman in goal, the Pack has managed to tie some highly ranked opponents this season, including No. 1 UCLA in an exhibition, No. 12 St. Louis and No. 3 Virginia. Despite a 4-0 loss to Wake Forest this past weekend, every State loss has been by one goal.
“In these close games we just need to get lucky,” Widman said. “We’ve hit the post, we just need to catch a couple of breaks, and I think we’ll win a couple of games. This weekend was tough, but so far they’re the best college team I’ve seen. But other than that, a couple of balls go in and we’re over .500.”
Widman, born in Alameda, Calif., moved to Pennsylvania as a child, only to relocate to Greensboro at age 12 for his father’s job. Widman said he has been playing soccer since he can remember, at all positions, until about 11 or 12 years old when he decided to stick to playing goalkeeper.
Colleges began noticing Widman as an underclassman at Ragsdale High School in Greensboro, where he earned all-conference selections three times as well as an all-state selection as a senior.
According to Tarantini, Widman was a major in-state recruit when he committed to State.
“It was not easy [recruiting him],” Tarantini said. “A lot of schools wanted him. A lot of schools in North Carolina provided competition. But he’s a good student — he liked the business school, so he chose us.”
At State, Widman redshirted his freshman year due to injury, but started nine games as a redshirt freshman last season and all 12 games thus far this season.
According to Widman, working behind former Pack goalie Jorge Gonzalez, an All-ACC selection, helped him transition from being a high school standout to a competitive ACC goalkeeper.
“When I was a freshman we had an All-ACC goalkeeper, so I came in, and got to train with him for a year,” Widman said. “I was hurt when I first came, but I got to train with him and it was great. It helped a lot. It’s such a huge transition, and getting to practice everyday with a guy who’s All-ACC, the best in the league, you can’t get any better than that.”
This season, despite the team’s struggles, Widman has collected 55 saves, averaging 4.58 per game, which ranks second in the ACC. Though Widman has the sixth best save percentage in the league, he credits the close, low-scoring games to the entire team defense.
“It comes down to the defense stopping goals, not just me,” Widman said. “The defense has done pretty well at keeping games close. We struggled this weekend, but with the exception of that we haven’t let in too many goals at all.”
Though it’s easy for fans to pin one-goal losses on the goalkeeper, Widman is not to blame, according to senior midfielder Ernesto Di Laudo. Di Laudo mentioned how several of the Pack’s wins and ties can be accredited to Widman’s play.
“He had really key saves during several games,” Di Laudo said. “The last game we played against Wake Forest was a different story. It was a really weird game, but he’s been working on that. But the other games we played throughout the season were pretty tight. That’s due to his work and the key saves he’s made during games. He’s been able to step up and get the saves we need to build confidence.”
With five regular season games remaining before the ACC tournament, Widman knows that a large portion of the pressure to win falls on his shoulders. Still, he has confidence in his teammates and his ability to turn the season around.
“I definitely feel pressure,” Widman said. “I try to help my team stay in it. They try to help me stay in it. So far it hasn’t worked out — we haven’t won nearly as many as we had hoped to. But we’re still working hard and hopefully we’ll get a couple of breaks and win a couple.”
