"When your team is not playing well, sometimes that’s when the goalkeeper can stand out the most,” Spencer Richey said.
Wednesday night in Philadelphia was an example of that.
While Richey allowed a pair of goals in FC Cincinnati’s loss to the Union at Talen Energy Stadium, he produced one of the best goalkeeping performances by anyone in the club’s four-year history.
That means Richey’s night, which consisted of a career-high six saves, stacks up well against Mitch Hildebrandt’s three penalty shootout saves in the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and Evan Newton’s performance at the Charleston Battery last season.
As the Union bombarded Richey, he produced stunning save after save. First came a point-blank stop at his near post in the 19th minute. In the 35th minute, he produced a kick save. Later, he continued silencing the home side before Philadelphia scored two goals in six minutes.
It’s a performance he should be proud of – but not necessarily one to boast about.
“Maybe it looks good on the stat sheet, but it is not ideal where we want to be as a team,” Richey said. “We don’t want to have our goalkeeper having to make saves to keep us in the game. It is bittersweet certainly.”
Following a quick turnaround, Richey or Tytoń will be tasked with slowing down the San Jose Earthquakes’ attack at Avaya Stadium on Saturday night. But as Richey noted, hopefully they’re not called upon too often.
