No more room for lessons: Emmet Carroll looking to stay sharp ahead of Whipsnakes playoff push
Last year, Emmet Carrolls mother sent him a clip of tennis legend Roger Federers commencement speech at Dartmouth College.An avid tennis fan, Carrolls interest was piqued when Federer mentioned how he won 80% of his career matches, but only 54% of his career points. During those points, Federer felt they were the most important thing in the world. When he lost, though, he moved on.The same process applies to Carroll. Like any goalie, he immediately knows when he shouldve saved a shot, and his natural reaction is to dwell on it. At the University of Pennsylvania, he learned to work through that, but being mentally strong as a goalie is an evolving process.Thats helped me just move on, Carroll said of the Federer speech. The films always going to be there after the game, and youre always going to sort of wish you had it back, but it does you no good in that moment dwelling on it.As the Maryland Whipsnakes prepare for their final regular-season stretch and likely playoff run, they need Carroll to be at the top of his game. Utahs Brett Dobson is the only goalie with at least five starts who has a better save percentage (60.1%) than Carroll (56.8%). However, like the rest of his team, Carroll is still trying to consistently put together complete outings.Hell admit he didnt play his best game two games ago against the Archers, Whipsnakes head coach Jim Stagnitta said. [He] was a little more consistent [last] week, but I think every game we need to get four quarters out of him, and thats what weve been working on, is the consistency of his play within games, just like our team.Ironically, someone Carroll was motivated by this year was Federers biggest rival, Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard was Carrolls favorite tennis player growing up, and Netflix recently released a four-part series about him, which Carroll watched intently.Carroll was impressed by Nadals training methods, which never changed no matter how dominant he was. The goalie also enjoyed how Nadal pushed his body to the limit when dealing with numerous injuries and still didnt let his standards drop.If you didnt know, now you know: Emmet Carroll is a frontrunner for Goalie of the Year Emmet is 1st in wins, 2nd in save %, saves, saves per game, and clean saves (minimum 3 games played) pic.twitter.com/ppXNJlvn93 Maryland Whipsnakes (@PLLWhipsnakes) July 21, 2026However, Carrolls favorite parts came in the third episode, titled The Hunter and The Hunted, which details a period when Nadal struggled to beat Novak Djokovic despite dominating him for most of his career. Even through the struggle, Carroll related to Nadals insistence on keeping a routine, because he feels in control.Theres external factors, Carroll said. But if you can sort of do things that are a part of your routine every time you get in the net, or every time you go out for a quarter after a goal, whatever it is, you sort of reset yourself, take control of the moment again and move forward.Carrolls save percentage has been above 50% in all but three games this season, one of which came during Opening Weekend against the Philadelphia Waterdogs. Yet Carroll felt he conceded a couple soft goals when he had 13 saves in a 14-8 loss to the Archers two weeks ago. That night, Dobsons season-high 18 saves stole the show.Even though his numbers were similar last week against Denver saving 15 shots and conceding 14 scores Carroll, along with Stagnitta, saw improvement. Carroll still was disappointed with the defeat.You always look in the mirror after a loss and say, What can I do better? he said.Despite the two-game losing streak, Carroll likes the connection he has with his defense and feels theyre giving him good enough shots to see, adding that hes ready to play the best lacrosse down the stretch. He also has the full confidence of his coaching staff.In my mind, hes been one of the top goalies in the league, and in this league, thats really hard to do, Whips defensive coordinator Brian Voelker said.Voelker said Dobson has been the best shot-stopper in the league this year. Outside of him, Voelker mentioned a group of four or five goalies battling for that second-best label, and he feels Carrolls case is as good as anybodys.And as the Whipsnakes get ready for a two-game stretch against the Boston Cannons and Waterdogs two of their likely playoff opponents keeping Carrolls confidence high is crucial.Nobodys asking Emmet to be a hero, Voelker said. Were just asking him to be dialed in, be consistent, clear the ball well and make saves. Were gonna try to play well in front of him, so he can make saves and be able to get him into a groove. He hasnt had any problem doing that stuff, so we want to just continue that.However, goalies can single-handedly steal playoff games, and if Whipsnakes face a potent offense like the Waterdogs, they might need Carroll to stand on his head.Growing up, Carroll also played hockey and enjoyed watching goalies get hot in the postseason. First it was Jonathan Quick helping the Los Angeles Kings to a couple of Stanley Cups in the early 2010s, before Andrei Vasilevskiy took that mantle with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Most recently, it was the Florida Panthers Sergei Bobrovsky who caught Carrolls eye.Even though his performances could decide the Whipsnakes possible postseason fate, Carroll doesnt like to put extra pressure on himself ahead of big games. He focuses on keeping things simple, and when he stays level-headed, the results follow.There have been good points this season for me personally, and there have been bad points as well, and a lot of lessons learned along the way, Carroll said. But at this point, there is no more room for lessons. You have to play your best and put everything youve learned into practice now.
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