Most of us roll our eyes when we hear sayings like "Make sure to be in the moment!" At best, we snap a photo to help us remember or take a quick look around and claim to soak up the moment. Often, we go through the motions of the day, lucky if we remember what we had for breakfast. Most of us, however, aren't fifth year Saint Louis University goalkeeper Emily Puricelli.
Goalkeeping is all about moments. Puricelli says it herself: "It takes one shot to change a game." It's "a special kind of person" to put their body on the line and "stay focused throughout the duration of a game, especially when there's little action."
A ball intended to be a cross can curl towards the upper corner and need to be tipped over the bar, or a flat pass can be intercepted and lead to a one-on-one in the blink of an eye. Goals are one of the few moments of a game everyone is guaranteed to remember. Goalkeepers make their identity stopping those moments before they happen.
When asked to describe something about herself that cannot be calculated in this age of analytics, Puricelli takes a moment, then another, to think. Finally, "A mentality to remain focused the entire time," she searches for the right words for a minute, "to never feel out of a game." She laughs before giving up on articulating more of her mentality. She simply doesn't need to, it's in all her answers about how she approaches a game, her last year, or a developing play.
She's all smiles on the computer screen, despite having gotten back from an away game against Missouri at 1 a.m. Puricelli has the unique ability to switch between the macro picture of her now five years at SLU and the micro picture of what this season and, even more specifically, each day holds for her.
One example of Puricelli's ability to easily maneuver between the big and small moments comes when asked about her favorite memory in a SLU uniform.
There's no hesitation as she declares "It's a small moment that leads into a big moment." As she describes her teammates dancing in the rain, there is genuine joy on her face and an obvious warmth to the memory.
It was the 2023 NCAA tournament and SLU was playing Georgetown in the pouring rain in the round of 32. Purcelli remembers the miserable weather and her teammates sitting around, knowing the next half was doable, but likely not enjoyable. Head Coach Katie Shields entered the room.
"This is what we train for," Shields said. "This is what our springs are for. This is what we practice outside for and do our mentality days for."
The speech changed the locker room. Saint Louis returned to the pitch dancing in the rain, using the phrase "sunny and 65." It reinforced the squad's moment mentality—all that mattered then was the team. Not long after that, SLU scored, won the game, and found themselves in the Sweet 16. For Puricelli, the memory embodied the team's culture.
"It was one moment that could have played out differently, but didn't because the whole team understood how to make that one moment something bigger than just a locker room speech," Puricelli said. "I will not ever forget it."
As a graduate student, Puricelli is in the unique position of experiencing old and new at the same time. Her time in a SLU uniform is ending, but as a graduate student, Puricelli has to relearn how to manage her time since only one of her four classes is in person.
Her decision came from her desire to remain part of such a competitive and supportive environment, something Puricelli wasn't ready to leave behind. The goalkeeper will also complete her MBA because of the opportunity presented by taking her fifth year.
"I love my team," she says. "Being able to kick a soccer ball around, that's fun too."
Puricelli easily admits that school is not her favorite, though she wouldn't go as far as calling herself an athlete-student. "I work hard towards getting my degree," she declares, and she's quick to praise her teachers for working with her schedule and providing support. She laughs when it's pointed out that for someone who doesn't like school, she's signed herself up to graduate with an MBA in an year.
It's that capacity for recognizing an opportunity, combined with Puricelli's unshakable mentality and her comfort with growth that has made her one of the most talented goalkeepers in college soccer.
Looking back over her career in a SLU uniform, Puricelli finds it easy to name all the different ways she's grown. "I've grown into myself, my voice," she offers, before immediately adding that she's still working on "being a consistent voice in the backline." That's the crux of her whole approach to growth: there is improvement, but even within that improvement there's another level to reach.
Puricelli doesn't let that next level scare her.
"You get put in positions [at SLU] where you're not necessarily good at everything." It's one of the draws of the program, in her opinion. "It's ok to fail as long as you're growing from it and becoming a better player or person."
That's the lesson Puricelli will be walking away from SLU with and, while it might seem like another of those cliches, there's deep conviction in Puricelli's voice.
"You're not going to be good at everything. It's impossible to be. Just try your best and you'll learn along the way."
There is an expectation from SLU's coaching staff that Puricelli, and the rest of the team, is a person first. It's a point that Puricelli references several times in the interview, a central theme in the narrative of what led a sixth grader just starting to specialize in goalkeeping to become a nationally-ranked goalkeeping talent. Puricelli points to the one-on-one meetings players have every single week to check in on them as soccer players, students, and people.
It may seem obvious, but this coaching philosophy is part of why Puricelli decided to come back for her fifth year. And it's one that isn't always common in college athletics.
While difficult, Puricelli really does take the big stage and big plays one day at a time. She sees the season simultaneously as a grind and the best time of her life. Taking the good with the bad is what keeps her grounded. She recognizes that it's a blessing she can play soccer— "Not everyone can say that," she adds.
There are a seemingly infinite numbers of moments left in Puricelli's final season. But, as she did in SLU's game against BYU, more and more of those will be spent soaking up the atmosphere, remaining present, and focusing on all the blessings of being able to play for one more year. But it's not a curtain call, not quite yet. If Puricelli has her way, that moment will come at the College Cup stage, a testament to her five years, relentless mentality, and all the small moments that led her there.
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