Glen Novak
MACOMB, Il – Western Illinois goalkeeper Micah Ramirez reflected on his recent success with the Men’s Soccer team and being the best player behind in the net.
Ramirez originally played for Temple University his first two seasons and then transferred to Western Illinois last year.
In the first game of this season, Ramirez recorded a shutout giving up zero goals against Butler University and gave credit to his teammates.
“I think first credit is to my teammates for sure that we definitely have more chemistry this year. We [have a] lot of returning guys,” Ramirez said.
In six of the eight games played Ramirez has only given up three goals or less and credits it with being healthier than last season.
“I was post surgery last fall so I was barely healthy coming back and then a couple knocks throughout the season I think [hindered] me a little bit. But I think me being healthy and being better communication wise and chemistry wise with teammates really helped me a lot,” Ramirez said
The Men’s Soccer team is currently 2-6 on the season. The team looks to improve on that when they start playing Ohio Valley Conference opponents. Western Illinois plays Eastern Illinois at home on Sept. 27 for its first OVC match at 1 P.M. central time on ESPN+.
Western Illinois’ schedule features opponents from the OVC.
“I don’t really think I have anything to prove or show or I’m not too excited to show anything to teams in the OVC [because] at the end of the day what matters to me is this next game. Then we have University Illinois Chicago coming up but until then I’m focused on one game at a time but I am super excited about the OVC at the same time,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez never really knew at a young age how difficult the goalkeeper position was, he played both a midfield player and goalkeeper till middle school.
“I don’t think it was something I was aware of back then. When I was a little kid I think I was always a [midfield] player and goalkeeper kind of at the same time. I’ll play one game [midfield], one game goalkeeper wasn’t till I was in 8th grade when I was goalkeeper full time. I think what made the decision for me was I had a more natural instinct as a goalkeeper,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez credits his opportunities to his natural instincts and playing one of the most difficult positions in sports as a goalkeeper. Ramirez looks to keep up the success throughout the season against whichever opponent is on the pitch.