Most athletes are allowed to play whichever sports they choose, but when a mother's best interest for their child's health comes into play, many of those choices are pulled off the table.
The men's soccer team should thank the mother of senior goalkeeper Robert Shuttleworth for not allowing him to play contact sports when he was a child, for he may have never found soccer.
Shuttleworth's mother chose soccer for him and found that he playing between the pipes.
In his senior year at Nichols High School in Buffalo, Shuttleworth finished with a 20-2-1 record in goal, as well as winning back-to-back state championships. He holds the school record with 48 career shutouts.
His stellar play in high school was good enough for him to be noticed by Loyola College in Baltimore. He felt that Loyola was too small and transferred to come back to his hometown. The Bulls had a Top-25 program at the time and he felt that Buffalo was a better fit for him.
"Usually, a lot of people I know come to the games," Shuttleworth said. "It's nice to play in front of family and friends that I've played in front of for a long time."
Upon arriving at the university, he was thrown right into the goaltending mix, but he never missed a beat despite trading off starts with veteran goalkeeper Dan Bell. Shuttleworth and Bell worked together learning from each other.
"It was good competition," Shuttleworth said. "We really pushed each other to get better and he was one of the leaders on the team. We really just worked off each other and it was really good competition that benefited the team."
Once Bell graduated last year, Shuttleworth took over full time in net and didn't disappoint. This season, the Bulls held the nation's longest consecutive scoreless minutes streak, playing 680 minutes without allowing a goal.
On the field, Shuttleworth is a key component to the success of the men's soccer program. Off the field, he tries to apply his work ethic and leadership to everything else that comes his way.
Shuttleworth is a political science major and hopes his career is going to be in soccer because he is unsure what he would want to do when he graduates. Nonetheless, it doesn't stop him from working hard to keep his grades up to make sure he is a good role model for some of the younger players on the team.
"I like to get my work in and get to my classes," he said. "Being one of the older kids on the team, you kind of keep your grades pretty decent because if the young kids on the team see you slacking off, they are going to do the same."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
