The Sacramento State women’s soccer team is off to a great start this season, and sophomore goalkeeper Mandy Trojan has been a large part of the Hornets’ success so far.

“She’s played really well,” said junior defender Kara Taylor. “She’s doing a really good job.”

Trojan has played strongly in goal all year, especially at home. She has not allowed a single goal at Hornet Field, where the team is 6-0, and has recorded four shutouts.

“Overall, she’s played very solid,” said Hornets coach Randy Dedini. “I think she can be an all-conference player.”

The young goalkeeper has also benefited from the solid play of the Hornets defensive backline, which includes Taylor, a former Big Sky Co-Defensive Player of the Year, and senior Katie Burton, a 2006 second team All-Big Sky selection.

“Our backline and team defense has been really strong this year,” Dedini said.

Trojan has been playing soccer since she was 5 years old and goalkeeper since her first year in club soccer at the age of 11. Although she played other sports growing up, she said soccer has “definitely been my favorite.”

“I’ve played softball and basketball,” Trojan said. “But I have stuck with soccer my entire life.”

She arrived at Sac State in 2006 where junior goalkeeper Jenny Lawrence had just completed a successful freshman season as the team’s only goalkeeper in 2005. Despite the fact that Lawrence had been an all-conference honorable mention, she and Trojan split time in goal during the 2006 season.

As this season approached, Dedini was faced with making a decision as to who would start.

“I knew coming into the season that it was going to be close and it was going to be a hard-fought battle between the two of them,” Dedini said.

Trojan played very well during preseason training and won the starting spot.

“Ultimately, Mandy just came in the stronger, more confident goalkeeper early on,” Dedini said.

She wasted no time justifying Dedini’s decision, recording back-to-back shutouts to start the season. Trojan would not allow a goal until the team’s fourth game, but then struggled a bit during the Hornets’ first road trip. Trojan surrendered seven goals during the three-game road swing, including three versus both Nevada and UC Davis.

“She’s gone through some growing pains,” Dedini said. “But (that’s) to be expected with a young goalkeeper.”

Lawrence started the first game back at Hornet Field after the road trip on Sept. 23, but Dedini said after the game that there was “definitely not a goalkeeper controversy” and that Trojan was still the team’s No. 1 goalkeeper.

True to his word, Dedini started Trojan the next two home games and she rebounded well, again notching back-to-back shutouts. Her performance led to being named the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 1, which Trojan said was “a big honor.”

“It boosted my confidence,” Trojan said.

Dedini, who played goalkeeper in college and at the professional level, has spent time working with Trojan on her play, which she said has turned her into a better goalkeeper.

“He’s done so much for me,” Trojan said. “He’s picked the smallest things out that no other coach has been able to do to make me improve.”

Now, as the Hornets draw closer to conference play, teammates such as Burton say that she has earned their trust, which is extremely important to a team’s success.

“If you don’t trust your goalkeeper, it can throw everything off,” Burton said. “You can’t play defense the way that you are supposed to.”

“I think anytime that your team in front of you can trust the goalkeeper, it allows them to play a little bit more comfortably and not worry that if they make a mistake then it’s going to be a goal,” Dedini said.

Trojan said the trust of her teammates means a lot.

“They’ll play for you more when they have confidence (in you),” Trojan said. “I’ve had teams where (goal)keepers don’t get along with the defenders and it’s a big problem.”

Trojan, a business major, said she would like to coach soccer after college, preferably at the club level with 11 to 19-year-old players.

“I feel like there is more you can teach at that level,” Trojan said. “I’d like to develop girls into good players – feel like I did something for them.”

She has also applied for a summer internship with Nike, which would help fulfill her desire to integrate sports into her career.

“My dream job is to work in marketing for Nike,” Trojan said.

As for this year, Trojan said she wants to win a conference championship for the team’s seniors.

“Everybody on our team has worked so hard, and last year it felt like we had (the championship) in our hands and it just slipped away,” Trojan said.

Burton believes Trojan will be a huge factor in whether or not the team realizes its goal of winning the Big Sky conference championship this year.

“You can have certain weaknesses on a team, but a goalkeeper can’t be one of them,” Burton said. “She’s going to play a huge role in this year and how well we do.”

Whether or not the team wins the conference title this year remains to be seen, but what’s for certain is that Trojan has a promising playing career ahead of her.

“She could be potentially the best goalkeeper ever to come out of Sacramento State,” Dedini said.

Contact Fernando Gallo at [email protected]