Three keepers who are dominating out West
In this article:
They might be from different states, but these three keepers have quite a lot in common. Obviously they all play the same position, and they all play it extremely well. All three are dominant and gaining national attention, and all…
Access all of Prep Soccer
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingThey might be from different states, but these three keepers have quite a lot in common.
Obviously they all play the same position, and they all play it extremely well. All three are dominant and gaining national attention, and all three work very hard to hone their skills and master their craft. They all have aspirations to play soccer after high school as well.
The individual stories are different in the details but what they also have in common is where they want to be, the hours they put in and the fact that their future is bright.
Zoe Anderson Zoe Anderson 5'11" | GK Jesuit (National Rank: 7th) | 2025 OR , Jesuit-Portland, Sophomore
Anderson is just a sophomore and she is certainly precocious. Her resume is impressive for someone her age. She is a 4.0 student, she has been to United States Youth National Team ID camps, she has been invited to Olympic Development Program Regional and State camps. She has been recognized by nearly every online soccer publication that anyone has ever heard of, and she is incredibly active on the Jesuit campus outside of sports.
And when it comes to goalkeeping, there may not be a player more focused, more driven and more hard-working. She knows what she wants to achieve and is striving for it through her actions.
“She is one of the most focused players that we have,” said Janine Szpara, her keeper coach with Northwest Elite FC. “She has ambitions and goals she is trying to achieve, and she is figuring out how to achieve those goals instead of just talking about them. She is very active in participating in her soccer journey and those things are not common in someone of her age.”
She plays ECNL for the NW Elite FC 07 team, playing for head coach Angelo Sabblah, who also sees how motivated she is.
“She has always shown that drive to compete, and always wants to push herself into those environments that are uncomfortable for her,” Sabblah said. “The strides she’s made in the last four years are incredible. She is that player that puts the extra work and she puts the hard work in when nobody is watching. She is very committed and she is 100 percent all about it.”
Anderson loves to work hard at her craft and she loves to put the time in. Not many people love working when the lights at the stadium aren’t on or when people aren’t watching.
Anderson is incredibly hard to score on. She approaches the game with the mentality that every single shot matters, whether her team is up three goals or down three goals. Regardless of the scoreline she approaches the game the same way. She is an incredibly well-rounded keeper. She is strong, physical, good in the air, and she is quite brave. She is not afraid to make a challenge and sacrifice her body. She positions herself well and she has very strong hands, which have only gotten better since Sabblah started working with her four years ago.
How is this for hard to score on… Anderson allowed one goal this Fall during Jesuit’s perfect 19-0-0 season which saw it win an Oregon 6A State title. She was one of three excellent ECNL keepers on the roster as the three split time early in the season, but when conference play began she was the regular starter and she guided the team through the playoffs. Her stats translate into a 0.08 GAA and a 98 percent save percentage.
“Those stats highlight how incredible the team in front of me is at Jesuit,” Anderson said. “I am truly grateful to protect their net.”
Anderson started playing soccer at age three, moved to keeper at age eight and has not looked back. As an 07 she joined Sabblah’s 05 Premier team, playing two years up, and actually earned playing time and played well. In 2018 she was invited to the Oregon ODP and last year was the only 07 keeper invited to the USYNT ID Camp in Portland. These experiences, as well as moving to ECNL have broadened her knowledge base and gained her valuable experience.
Jesuit has had four keepers in the last 12 years go on to play major Division I soccer (Pac-12 schools and Notre Dame) and Anderson is hopeful to follow in those footsteps. However, she is going to make sure she finds the best fit when her recruiting window opens.
“I really love school and I’ve set some high academic standards, so I am looking for a strong academic institution where I can enjoy the learning environment while playing soccer,” Anderson said. “I am hoping to find a women’s soccer program where I can really contribute to the success of the team while being developed as a goalkeeper.”
Dina Frenkel, St. Ignatius College Prep-San Francisco, Junior
Frenkel’s name is starting to ring loudly across California. She was blocked as a freshman and sophomore from being a varsity starter, with two seniors in the position during those two years, but she learned a lot from then in training and has hit the ground running in this, her junior season.
Frenkel entered the year prepared and excited because she knew there was a lot of talent on this team, and she was going to get great coaching at a school like St. Ignatius, which is ranked second in the Central Coast Section and is a top ten team in the State of California. Playing for one of the top programs in the State has led to her being more excited, more prepared and more motivated.
“I think she is very motivated,” St. Ignatius coach Daire O’Connor said. “She does a lot of personal training outside of team practices to help improve her game.”
She plays her club at Mountain View Los Altos SC, probably the premier club in the Bay Area, and is currently coached by Seth Alberico, who sees what she is capable of, how hard she works and what kind of person she is.
“She is fearless and very driven,” Alberico said. “She has the drive to always work and get better. She trains like crazy and does all kinds of extra work. She’s also a very cool kid, a great teammate and very coachable.”
She plays for the MVLA 06 ECNL team, where she won ECNL Northwest-Bay Conference Division Championships in 2021 and 2022, but started out playing keeper as an eight-year old for the San Francisco Glens.
“I knew I wanted to be a goalkeeper at a young age,” Frenkel said. “I was always drawn to the uniqueness of the position, being a leader, the thrill of coming up big in tough, game-changing moments. Throughout the years, I have had some great coaches and mentors who have motivated me to work hard everyday to become the best player that I can be. My goalkeeper coach, Roberto Llamas, has always challenged me to play outside of my comfort zone, in different game scenarios and in environments where I can challenge myself.”
Frenkel is an excellent shot stopper, showing great agility and reflexes. She is a leader on the pitch, she makes good, quick decisions and is very confident with the ball at her feet, and is a very good distributor. She is excellent in 1v1 situations and is very brave. Opposing teams will notice how confident she is in the box, that she keeps her backline organized and she communicates well under pressure. She works very hard to get behind every ball, to stay focused for the entire match and this allows her to see the game, react and stop shots from all angles.
Because of her obvious talent and her exposure playing ECNL, she has played in front of a lot of college coaches and since she was able to start the recruiting process on June 15th, she’s spoken to a lot of coaches from all over the country. She’s talked to people from competitive conferences such as the Pac-12, WCC and ACC and will find the best program for her when that time comes.
Pia Sachdev Pia Sachdev GK Rancho Solano | 2024 AZ , Rancho Solano-Scottsdale, Junior
You will be hard-pressed to find a more athletic keeper in the State of Arizona. Sachdev is active, quick, reacts well and reads the game. She has great instincts, knows when to come for the ball and knows how to close down the angle. She has been starting for Rancho Solano High since she was a freshman. She plays her club for the SC Del Sol U17 DPL team.
“In youth soccer, in my opinion, goalkeeper is the most important position,” Rancho Solano coach Neil Graham said. “A good goalkeeper can stop five or six more shots that a weaker goalkeeper lets in so it’s vital to have a solid keeper, which Pia is. She is very conscientious and determined and has worked very hard over many years to steadily become better and better at the craft of goalkeeping. In that sense her attitude, strong will and dedication have really helped.”
Sachdev works hard and works with a purpose, but she is also very coachable and her confidence continues to grow and grow. She is a captain for Rancho Solano this year and has received the honor of being honorable mention for the All-3A Regional team in her freshman and sophomore seasons.
“Pia is always eager to take on board coaching points and really embraces being a captain on the team,” Graham said. “Some of her teammates are much less experienced playing soccer so she takes them under her wing and shares her knowledge and experience. I’ve known Pia many years now. She used to be somewhat shy but her confidence has blossomed along with her level of play which has been awesome to witness. It’s been fun to watch her grow and I’m sure she will continue on that trajectory.”
Additionally, she is very motivated academically, maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA. She was very recently named the Bally Sports Arizona student athlete of the month.
She is also very charitable, as you can see in this article published at ArizonaSports.com.
Sachdev started playing keeper when she was eight years old and over the years has honed her craft to where she is now a great communicator and shot stopper. She does not quit on a play.
She loves soccer and loves using her hands while playing sports, so being a keeper became a natural fit.
“I always liked sports where I got to catch things,” Sachdev said. “I played tee-ball before soccer and I still play basketball as well. So I already had good hand-eye coordination. Before I played keeper I was a defender so I also just liked defending the goal a lot.”
Because of her excellent grades she is looking to combine academics with athletics and is talking to high-performing schools such as Washington University in St. Louis, Case Western in Cleveland and Vassar College in New York about continuing her soccer career.