MSU backup goalie showing worth with Lansing United

EAST LANSING – Quinn McAnaney bounced his feet anxiously up and down on the goal line.

The Lansing United keeper stared down the center of the penalty box as his team was facing first-round elimination from the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. There was a soccer ball placed on a white circle 12 yards away and, on the other side of it, an opponent preparing to fire a penalty shot past the 6-foot-3 netminder.

As the ball jolted off the foot of the shooter, McAnaney dove right — a quick decision, often a guess, due to how fast the ball reaches the goal — and pushed the ball away.

He stoned him.

"Yeah! Let's go!," yelled the fist-pumping McAnaney, who had just made the first save in the United's 4-2 shootout victory over RWB Adria in the opening round of the Cup.

"These are the moment you live for," he told reporters after the game.

Jimmy Fiscus enjoys seeing this fiery emotion from his teammate. It's been a rarity over the last 10 months.

"It's good to see him get in games because he has a lot to prove," said the United defenseman, who plays college ball at Michigan State where McAnaney is the backup goalie. "He comes out here and acts like he deserves to play every minute.

"Just seeing him grow as a player, and play like he deserves to be on the pitch, is a good feeling."

McAnaney has two shutouts in three starts for the United this year. He has been one of the amateur club's standouts through the early moments of the season. McAnaney recorded six saves against RWB Adria, and in the United's National Premier Soccer League 1-0 win over the Michigan Stars last Sunday, he stopped four shots.

"It's getting that adrenaline going again. When you're a backup you don't get that as much," he said. "I've put in a lot of hard work over the years. I've trained a lot of hard sessions, and I've trained with great goalkeeper coaches and players over the years.

"Now to get a little bit of a chance here … It's exciting."

As a senior at Glenbrook North High School, a public school nearly 30 minutes north of Chicago, McAnaney had hopes of playing top-tier Division I soccer. And despite being an All-State selection, interest was minimal. So he took it upon himself to find a way.

"My club coach had a connection to (MSU men's soccer coach) Damon Rensing," McAnaney said. "I came (to East Lansing) for a tryout-type thing — just to get the goalkeepers coach to look at me. I played pretty well.

"They decided to come out to my games in the state cup, and I played pretty well in those. I came to a week-long camp and that's when they offered me."

The soon-to-be redshirt senior has yet to start a game for MSU. And his time on campus as a backup keeper, at times, has been "tough."

After taking a redshirt as a freshman in 2011, McAnaney was told by MSU coaches that he would have a chance to compete for the starting job the following season. But he eventually lost it to the more experienced Brice Dobbins. And after Dobbins struggled through the first few weeks, coaches tapped then-true freshman Zach Bennett, not McAnaney.

Bennett, who will be a senior next season, has started ever since. Last season, Bennett finished first in the Big Ten with 12 shutouts.

"It was an opportunity, and that's was all I could really ask for," McAnaney said. "I had a really good spring, and (the job) was up for grabs going into that fall.

"That's just how it goes. I had a chance — and that's Division I sports."

McAnaney has had an itch to play at a high-level since getting to East Lansing, so when he heard about the opportunity to audition for the United this summer he reached out to Bennett, who was the team's keeper last season.

"I just wanted to get a chance to play and compete," McAnaney said. "I knew they had a great summer last year, and talking to Zach, he said it was a great experience to play good competition."

When Lansing coach/general manager Eric Rudland learned that Bennett, who had other obligations, wouldn't return this summer, Rensing told him that McAnaney would be interested.

"We said 'Let's take a look,' not knowing anything about him because he hasn't played at Michigan State," Rudland said. "We were able to get some spring games with him and he did well."

Rudland has been more than pleased with McAnaney's play between the posts thus far. And he continues to see growth from his rejuvenated keeper with each game.

"There are still components of his game that he needs to improve upon, and a lot of that comes with games under his belt —which he's in the process of accumulating," Rudland said. "But from a pure shot-stopping and organizational standpoint he's done a very good job.

"Hopefully this is a big-time confidence builder for Quinn."