While there are plenty of accolades to go around when it comes to the play of Albion San Diego over the last couple of months, the performances of goalkeeper Ben Roach have caught the eye of everyone in NISA as well.

Not only has the team, led by head coach Ziggy Korytoski, gone undefeated in its last five league matches, along with winning the NISA Independent Cup Southern California Region Championship on July 24, but it also claims the second-best goals-against average in the western division largely due to the level that Roach has shown.

In the last two matches, Albion San Diego has a home win versus the Maryland Bobcats and a road draw against powerhouse Cal United Strikers FC where Roach come up with huge saves, particularly in the final minutes of both games, to put Albion all alone in second place of the West Division. The next opponent, Flower City Union FC, is one that he and the rest of the team are familiar with having tied with them 2-2 back on June 15.

“Our training level leading up to Flower City has been a lot higher and I think that collectively everyone is starting to get more bought in,” said Roach. “I think we’re handling adversity a bit better, especially after that month break to play the Independent Cup. I think that guys have gotten a lot more mature and I think we’re a lot more capable of managing games now.”

Over the last five league matches, Albion San Diego has only given up four goals with half of those coming from the first game against Flower City Union. Despite the fact that it has played the least amount of games out of all the teams NISA, the one thing that has been consistent is the dependability between the posts.

“The biggest thing is being locked in for the whole 90 minutes because if you switch off for one moment it can lead to a goal,” he added. “It’s about 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical.”

Roach’s ultimate objective is to play professionally in Europe spending time during the summer of 2021 in Scotland for a couple of months trying out for first division clubs, but he also has aspirations to be part of a Major League Soccer team.

The Santa Barbara native and former Gaucho made a name for himself early when he was named as the only goalkeeper of the United Soccer Coaches’ 2017-18 High School All-American CIF-Southern Section team after leading Santa Barbara High School to the Division I title. After the move to college, the 22-year-old was named 2018 Big West Co-Freshman of the Year for UCSB thanks to three consecutive shutouts vs conference opponents along with being selected to the All-Big West Freshman Team.

“The college level is a lot more kick balls into the channels and gets your numbers forward and the fewer mistakes will lead to wins,” said Roach. “Here, we try to play a little bit more keeping the ball and playing out of the back.”

As things stand now, Albion San Diego is one point ahead of Bay Cities FC all while having played two fewer matches. The top three teams from each division make the playoffs. Albion San Diego’s upcoming game on Aug. 27 vs. Flower City Union is 6 p.m. at Canyon Crest Academy Stadium.

“It’s always a pleasure when the fans can make their way out and watch our games,” Roach said. “That only adds energy and motivation to us, I think the (San Diego Loyal) game was a great example of that. Just the energy that day and all the academy kids coming out showing their support was tremendous.”

Photo courtesy of David Frerker