University of Connecticut Athletics
WSOC Feature: A Season of Ultimate Improvement for Randi Palacios
10/1/2019 12:04:00โฏPM | Women's Soccer
by Danny Barletta
The 2018 season was one to forget for the UConn women's soccer team. The Huskies won just four games, the fewest in program history.
One of the places UConn struggled the most was in net. Randi Palacios got her first playing time last season after redshirting her first year and never seeing game action in 2017. She was thrown into the fire of a difficult season and really struggled, allowing 37 goals in 17 games for a 2.27 GAA (Goals Against Average) and a .673 save percentage.
"It was humbling in every way, honestly," Palacios said about last season. "Nobody ever wants to lose, but we took every game as it was and every day just trying to get better."
Fast forward a year later and the redshirt junior from Vienna, Virginia, has completely transformed her game. Palacios is now the backbone of this UConn team and is giving them a chance to win every single game. Through 10 games this season, her save percentage is a very-respectable .800 and her GAA is down a full point to 1.27.
Palacios said she worked hard over the entire offseason to improve her overall fitness. She committed herself to becoming stronger, quicker and more agile through a rigorous offseason training program that included a lot of strength and conditioning, as well as goalkeeper-specific workouts.
"She's been working on her physical attributes," goalkeeper coach Vanessa Phillips Bosshart said. "I think that's been her biggest transformation. She went home and put in the work this summer, and she came back fitter than she's ever been, she came back quicker than she's ever been, and she came back more agile than she's ever been. I think that's made the biggest difference."
Her new quickness has shown this season, as she's made highlight-reel saves in nearly every game. Bosshart said that those were the kinds of saves she wasn't making last season.
"I think last year, pretty much every game she maybe would let in a goal that she shouldn't have," Bosshart said. "I think this season, she's at least once every game making a save that she needs to make to keep us in the game."
UConn's 4-5-1 record this season is not reflective of how well Palacios has played. She has allowed less than two goals in seven out of the team's 10 games this year, but the Huskies are just 4-2-1 in those games, including two consecutive 1-0 losses.
In the Huskies' most recent game against Cincinnati, Palacios played the best game of her college career. She dove, leaped and slid to make a career-high 10 saves to give her team a chance to win.
Yet, even with her incredible improvement this season, Palacios still said she has work to do.
"I think I've done well," Palacios said. "I definitely have a lot to grow โฆ I would say I need to communicate better and more effectively. Overall athleticism I still need to work on."
The Huskies have already matched their win total from last year and are looking to make a splash in their final season in the American Athletic Conference. They wouldn't be where they are without the major improvement of Palacios, but she was quick to spread the credit to the rest of her teammates.
"The work we do as a team is amazing," Palacios said. "It's beautiful to see people grow in this sport, and it's beautiful to see a team as a whole grow. I definitely think from last year to this year, it's night and day. We've worked so hard and we definitely deserve a lot."
Palacios grew a lot as a player in the offseason and her terrific performance this year has really reflected that.
"She wants to be a leader on this team," Bosshart said. "She wants to win, and she's willing to do whatever it takes for her to be the best goalkeeper she can be to help this team win."
