FRISCO, Texas – FC Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz set a career season high just four games into the season with his third clean sheet of 2015 on Saturday.
But that was nearly the second proudest moment of his day. Seitz and his wife are expecting to give birth to their second child, and they were bracing for labor to begin at any point during the match.
All he was waiting for was a phone call.
“I see one of our admins and they say ‘no phone call,’ so we’re good to go,” Seitz said, knowing that if his wife went into labor before the game, he would be faced with a tough decision.
Once the game started, Seitz was fully dialed in for the entirety of the match. The plan, according to team officials, was for his wife to call someone with the team if she was about to go into labor and have Seitz meet her at the hospital immediately after the match.
Fortunately for both, she did not go into labor during the match, and still has not, as of Monday morning. But whether or not she did, the Dallas 'keeper, who has allowed only one goal in four starts this season, was not letting it affect his game.
“It’s all about the lead-up,” Seitz said, downplaying how much it was on his mind during the match itself. “My wife and I [were] going over all the what-ifs of everything. But listen, once I hit that field, it all kinda goes away.”
It’s a good thing Seitz was able to compartmentalize the situation because his team was put into a tough spot early when Kellyn Acosta left the game due to a red card in the 18th minute.
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“We had a big test ahead of us once we went down a man,” Seitz said. “As you saw last week [vs. Philadelphia], it’s not easy to get goals when you go down a man or up a man. So we wanted to be tough to play against defensively.”
A combination of strong defensive play and missed Seattle opportunities helped Seitz keep his gloves clean over the 90-plus minutes.
“Credit to the guys and credit to the team, because I didn’t have to make a save tonight,” Seitz said after the game. “That’s a really good night for me.”
And to think, it was nearly an even better night for the veteran 'keeper.
