Ashtyn Webb was thrown into being a goalkeeper.

During her middle school days at West Jefferson in London, Ohio, Webb featured as an outside midfielder. Then in high school, she was placed as goalkeeper.

The move paid off.

After a successful high school career, Webb was recruited by Maggie Kuhn, head coach of the Point Park women’s soccer team. She’s not your average goalkeeper, standing at only 5’2”. After spending her freshman year as a backup, Webb began starting games during her sophomore year.

Kuhn noted that Webb started to “separate herself from the others” last season. Now, she’s leading a group of goalkeepers that includes fellow juniors Morgan Willis and Rebecca Cohen.

“Morgan keeps good pressure on Ashtyn to work hard in every practice and in every game,” Kuhn said. “We have two great goalkeepers that we have confidence in, whoever is in goal. But, Ashtyn is our No. 1 goalkeeper. The win against Pikeville will give her good confidence.”

Webb said that being named the starter is a relief.

“I still have pressure because there’s still another goalkeeper,” Webb said. “But, it’s a stress relief. It’s nice having something to look forward to, especially with the season underway.”

It’s not just a relief for the goalkeeper. Defender Abby Magliocca said that she really enjoys having Webb behind the defense in net.

“She has good hands, she’s good on the ball and she communicates well with us,” Magliocca said. “We communicate well back and forth. I trust her. I know she can make the saves and come out when she needs to. It’s nice to have a goalie like that.”

However, despite the competition from the others, Webb said she has a good relationship with her fellow goalkeepers.

“We get along very well,” Webb said. “I think it’s a good atmosphere between the three of us. We can joke around, but still take what we do serious. We can give each other critiques in a good way, so we can progress as a whole.”

All three goalkeepers have one common goal: to help the team. Point Park’s record is currently 1-4, but has yet to start conference play. Despite the rough start, Webb is confident that the Pioneers can turn the season around and continue to pile up wins.

“We started off the same way last year, so hopefully we can go up instead of going down,” Webb said. “We did turn it around last year. When we played Spring Arbor, we played a nationally ranked team, so seeing how we react to the style of their play shows you that we can compete with teams nationally. It shows the potential that our team has.”

“If we play the way we played against them, we’ll be fine,” Webb said.

Point Park is still competing in non-conference play. Conference play will begin on Sept. 20 against Brescia University. However, Webb has a specific match that she has circled on her calendar.

“Our rivals are technically Carlow, since they’re downtown, but for us, it’s Asbury,” Webb said. “We always play our best game against them… we always rise to the occasion when we play them. There’s so much adrenaline when we play them, for us and our fans.”

For now, Webb will take it one game at a time. The Pioneers are currently on a road spell, with its next contest coming against Shawnee State University on Saturday.