Patrick Schulte

Um, then the stuff happened with Rodriguez and we'll get to that in a second.

But that free kick, uh, you know, sideline, right sideline side, a big bender that makes it into the far, inside the far left post, just inches over Patrick Schulte's outstretched...

And he's 6'2" and, and has some hops.

Yeah.

He's between the penalty box and the touchline on the outside of the field and about 12 yards off the goal line.

And the dude had absolutely no angle, but he found the one pocket beyond Patrick Schulte's reach and was able to make it 1-1 before the halftime break.

So a 1-1 scoreline and lots of back and forth between the Miami players, the Columbus players, and and the Miami players in particular, and our referee, Victor Rivas.

Patrick Schulte told us post-game, listen, we're clued in on how these guys like to play.

Yeah, we know what kind of game that they like to play, and they try and get under your skin, and that's a testament to them.

They do it for all, you know, tonight, 100 minutes, and you know that we're going to have to keep our cool, but not let it rattle us in any way.

That is Columbus Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte.

51 wins now for the 24-year-old as he celebrates with his teammates postgame on Sunday night in a 2-1 victory over Miami.

Um, and, and teams are scoring goals, uh, from positions that you wouldn't necessarily expect them to, to score from.

Part of the reason I think that's happening is because the effort is so bad, right? Well, all of a sudden, the effort improves 10, 20, 30% and, and you make some of the plays you need to make, both in your attacking third and, and, and, you know, Patrick Schulte does some things that, you know, maybe we're more accustomed to seeing, and you get results, right? And I think, like, that's the simplest solution.

And, and then, so that was really great to see.

I do think, you know, for, uh...

And-

Right

... look, maybe you get a game where Patrick Schulte stands on his head and, you know, Sean Zawatski marks the, the shit out of them, and then [laughs] uh, you, you can get a win.

But I think even a 2-2 draw would, would be solid.

I don't think it was being saved.

Patrick Schulte may have felt a little bit hard done, but he would not have saved that.

The way it curved, and I watched it at least five times on the rewatch, it was... stunning the way he hit the ball so i'm just gonna call it he meant to shoot it i guess but even if he didn't that's still mighty impressive you're muted

That's what they tell you to do.

Literally, two or three bench players.

The only other goalkeepers that I have is kind of like the best of the rest right now, conversationally, is probably Matt Turner still, is Patrick Schulte and Roman Salitano, but it's...

These, outside of Matt Turner, these are, I think, the best four

options.

He might be the better keeper.

Yeah, I don't think that Patrick Schulte should be on the roster anymore.

I think he's a better shot stopper.

When Schulte's

Tickets are available at columbuscrew.com. And the storylines between the Columbus crew and the opponent in the Open Cup final, St. Louis, continue to grow.

I was just thinking to myself the other day that in his first year of pro soccer, I believe Patrick Schulte played for St. Louis City FC, the second team.

I think he did before he came to Columbus, right after college.

That's what he ended up doing.

He did it against Miami, remember, in his debut game.

and a 2-0 final.

The shutout so important for Patrick Schulte, who now moves up the ranks not just in wins but in shutouts.

He's got 50 wins, 25 shutouts, and a three-way tie for second place in the shutout category for most shutouts for a goalkeeper in crew history.