For freshman goalie Dan Wigrizer, it’s all about keeping the game simple. Stay poised, stop the ball and clear it.
“I don’t let anything get to my mind,” Wigrizer said. “I don’t look around [or] look at the crowd. [I just] keep focused. [It’s] just like playing another game, just like another day in the office.”
So far so good for Wigrizer, who is first in the ACC in saves per game to this point. In the Blue Devils’ 12-11 overtime victory over then-No. 19 Bucknell to open the season, Wigrizer made 17 saves and kept Duke in the game throughout.
“He deserves credit for winning us the Bucknell game,” defenseman Parker McKee said. “Coming in freshman year, first time playing with the squad and he makes 17 saves. That’s a hell of a job. That’s above and beyond his call of duty.”
Wiggy, as his teammates call him, stands at just 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, significantly smaller than last year’s starter, fifth-year senior Rob Schroeder. What the freshman lacks in size, though, he makes up for in natural ability and hard work.
“Schro[eder] was a bigger presence in net, because he was like [6-foot-1], 230, but Wiggy brings the unexpected presence to the net,” McKee said. “He’s a freshman and he’s small so you don’t expect him to bring much to the table, but it’s not the size of the dog, it’s the heart inside of him. [The] kid has a lot of heart and he’s very talented.”
A graduate of the Haverford School in Haverford, Penn., Wigrizer was a three-year starter who earned both first-team all-county and first-team all-state recognition three times. His junior season, Haverford went 17-7 with Wigrizer in net and lost in the league semifinals. He was selected as an Under Armour Junior All-American and was named a U.S. Lacrosse High School All-American.
In his senior year, though, Wigrizer became one of the elite high school goalies in the country and earned Haverford a 16-8 record and a league championship.
Wigrizer was selected as an Under Armour Senior All-American and county Player of the Year along with earning his second U.S. Lacrosse High School All-American selection. With high school over, however, Wigrizer has had to transition to the college game, specifically the quicker pace.
“The ball moves a lot faster just around the field as a whole,” Wigrizer said. “People are faster, the shots are faster and they are better-placed shots. It’s tough to get used to. In one second, the ball can [move] from one side of the field to the other.”
The speed of the game may have increased, but with the guidance of assistant coach Pat DeBolt, the freshman is trying to remain focused and keep his anxiety from affecting his game.
“He gets very anxious sometimes, but he’s done a great job having poise, making big saves and moving the ball up the field and into the appropriate spots that he needs to,” DeBolt said. “When I first came in here, I used to always tell him, ‘Just take a big breath. Take a big breath.’ If you ever watch us during warm-ups, I’ll say, ‘Wiggy, just take two big breaths for me and just relax.’”
The transition has been made easier by the fact that Wigrizer is playing under two great coaches in DeBolt and head coach John Danowski.
“Throughout the first three games, I feel like I’m a ten times better goalie than I was when I stepped onto the field in the beginning of the season, let alone when I stepped onto the field at the beginning of fall,” Wigrizer said. “There are even times during the game when Coach DeBolt will call me over and give me more pointers and more hints. It’s just awesome having their support throughout the entire time.”
Wigrizer’s luck does not stop at his coaching staff, as he is fortunate enough to be playing in front of the experienced defensive group of McKee, junior Michael Manley and senior Dan Theodoridis.
Wigrizer said the defense’s experience and talent has helped him keep his composure in the crease, and added that he expects his defensemen to allow only shots from beyond 12 yards out, a distance he is expected to make saves from.
DeBolt echoed Wigrizer’s comments in that playing behind such skilled, veteran defenders takes the pressure off the freshman goalie and allows him to focus purely on ball-stopping, rather than both ball-stopping and communication.
“[The] defense has been together long enough that they know how to communicate to themselves and not depend upon the goalie necessarily,” DeBolt said. “I tell the defense, ‘You guys are going to have to talk more and to depend more on yourselves rather than your goalie.’”
Even with the great coaching and strong defensemen in front of him, Wigrizer knows that he cannot sit back and expect those around him to carry him. Instead of being known as a freshman goalie, he wants to be known as the goalie of a national contender.
“I want to be able to walk out onto the field and [have the other team] worry about the goalie in net [instead of them saying,] ‘It’s only a freshman goalie. Take a lot of shots.’” Wigrizer said. “As long as I’m able to save the ball, I feel like that can build my reputation and people won’t look at me as the freshman goalie anymore, but instead as the Duke goalie.”
While one of Wigrizer’s goals is to earn respect from his opponents, his top priority echoes the main target for the rest of his team: He wants to win a national championship.
And to make it to the championship game in Baltimore this May, all he has to do is keep it simple.
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