Built to last: Laura Dougall

A minute and 30 seconds remained in the women’s soccer team’s season opener against St. Bonaventure Aug. 22. Nursing a 1-0 lead, Buffalo turned the ball over at midfield, resulting in a breakaway for Bonnies’ junior Lauren Hill.

The Bulls had gone from comfort to desperation in a matter of seconds.

As Hill raced toward the Buffalo net, the rest of the Bulls could only watch and hope their 18-year-old freshman goalkeeper, playing in her first college game, would come up with a game-saving play.

“All of us were confident that she was going to stop any shot,” said senior midfielder and team captain Courtney Mann.

And with good reason.

As Hill let off her shot, Dougall strategically positioned herself and dived toward the ball, punching it over the net to preserve the first of Buffalo’s 13 wins this season.

“In almost every game, she’s found a way to make an unbelievable save to keep our team in it,” said head coach Shawn Burke. “It gives every player on the field room to take more risks. If they miss assignment, the team does not worry. They know Laura is in goal.”

The fact that Dougall is a freshman is irrelevant to her teammates and coaches.

She is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation in save percentage. Her 11 shutouts this season set a program record. She will lead the No. 1 seeded Bulls into the Mid-American Conference Tournament this weekend.

Coaches and players are just as confident in Dougall as they would be if a four-year starting senior were leading Buffalo into Sunday’s quarterfinal round opener at UB Stadium.

It’s hard for the Bulls to not have confidence in Dougall when just looking at her standing in goal.

She has the build for a perfect prototypical goalkeeper, according to Burke. Her 6-foot frame allows her to consistently tip shots over the net and her elongated legs allow her to cover each side of the goal.

Her intangibles make her just as dangerous. She keeps her head up after allowing a goal. She plays well under pressure. Buffalo relies on her to be the last line of defense. Scouts came to her games when she just 15.

How she is assembled physically and how she functions under pressure is impressive; it’s almost mechanical.

A machine must function at its optimal performance at all times. All the components and parts are vital for the machine to carry out its functions. Dougall has performed consistently the entire season despite the pressure, and credits her experiences on and off the field as the ‘parts’ that have made her into the best goalkeeper in the MAC and one of the most revered goalkeepers in the nation.

Her drive is that of a machine.

“I want to be known as the No. 1 starting goalie,” Dougall said. “I play to be No. 1.”

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A good machine doesn’t break down easily. And neither does Laura Dougall.

“It takes a lot for someone to break me,” Dougall said. “I don't break down easily and being the goalie, that's always a good thing to have. If I get scored on, I can’t let my head down. I need to make sure I am still confident … to make the next save.”

Dougall has dealt with the disappointment of allowing a goal just seven times this season. But she has never let emotions affect her play afterward. She has stayed focused on the task at hand and let her drive fuel her performance.

She endured a two-month tryout process for the Ontario U16. The national team weeded out players by pushing them to their limits. Tryouts for the 16-and-under team would be held even if it snowed.

“It was probably the most mentally and physically demanding thing I have ever been through in my entire life,” Dougall said. “They pushed us to the point where we couldn’t walk after training. It really showed me my limits and how far I can push myself.”

Dougall developed her keen mental toughness in her Pickering, Ontario home growing up with two older siblings – Heather and Michael, ages 23 and 25 respectively.

“It was always them against me,” Dougall said. “They would do stuff like putting soy sauce into my ice cream and telling me it was chocolate ice cream.”

Dougall vividly remembers her siblings pouring a bucket of water on her head during the middle of winter after she returned home from a high school practice. Her siblings locked her outside of the house for 10 minutes. There was nothing Dougall could do except be patient until her parents came home to let her inside.

Although teasing became a vital part of her childhood, she learned it takes a lot more than some tainted chocolate ice cream or water to mentally break her down.

Despite being victim to their pranks, there was a dynamic relationship present between Dougall and her siblings. They taught her how to cook and would regularly make baked goods together.

Above all, her siblings taught her one of the most vital parts of playing a sport: teamwork.

“Having siblings around teaches you that there will be support no matter where you go,” Dougall said. “Always knowing that you have someone to lean on is a really comforting feeling.”

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Dougall has always had the drive to be No. 1.

Even while growing up, Dougall knew the importance of being the best. She even switched her jersey number from No. 5 – her mother’s birthday – to No. 1 when she entered high school.

Growing up, she towered over the other soccer players. Her stature allowed her to dominate the multiple house league and middle school teams she played for, cumulating in an invitation to try out for the Ontario U16 Team at 12 years old. Albeit hesitant at first, Dougall accepted.

After the last training session of the two-month tryout process, the Ontario team coaches walked over to Dougall and congratulated her for making the team.

For a year and a half, she traveled with some of the best female players under 16 in Canada. She went undefeated in her first season and traveled to Spain to play international competition. It is still Dougall’s fondest soccer memory.

She joined three more clubs before graduating from high school: Pickering Power 96, Ajax 96 Red and FC Durham. In high school, she was one of the most revered prospects in Ontario. The recruitment process started when she was just 15 years old. Representatives from Canadian schools showed up to Dougall’s games when she was just a sophomore in high school.

To fulfill her mission of playing Division I soccer, Dougall was willing to do whatever it took – even if that meant going to a different country.

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Dougall was skeptical about playing soccer in the United States. Then she heard about Buffalo: an established academic institution and home to a struggling women’s soccer program at the time. It is three hours away from her home in Ontario.

“I automatically fell in love with UB,” Dougall said. “It's close enough that my parents could come visit me on the weekends and I wanted to go to a school with a smaller soccer program and try to make a difference.”

Freshman midfielder Julia Benati, who played with Dougall on the Ontario U16 Team, came to UB without knowing her former teammate had already committed to Buffalo as well. Benati admits she didn’t know Dougall well during their time on the national team due to different practice schedules between goalkeepers and skill players.

During the preseason, however, the two were paired as temporary roommates, eventually becoming permanent roommates and friends.

The friendship was due to their mutual will to succeed.

“I remember both of us complaining how tired and sore we were during preseason,” Benati said. “All we wanted was preseason to end. But looking back now, we know it was all worth it.”

Dougall has used this season to bring all of her ‘parts’ together. As a member of the most successful team on campus, Dougall stands out.

She has been a catalyst for a defense that has allowed the fewest goals in the MAC. Last season, the Bulls went just 6-9-3 and did not win back-to-back games all year. With Dougall, the team finished undefeated in MAC play en route to a No. 1 seed this season.

Dougall does not like to take credit for her success, however. She believes her record-breaking season is due to the play of her backline. Her teammates feel she deserves the credit.

“Laura Dougall has had probably the most incredible freshman season out of any keeper that we’ve had here at UB,” Mann said. “She should be extremely proud of what she has accomplished.”

Dougall’s success can be attributed to all the components that have made her into the prototypical goalkeeper she is today. Every team she has played for, every moment of training, every second spent locked outside in the cold, every save – even every goal allowed has led to the finished product that will guard the Bulls’ net in Sunday’s tournament opener.

A machine needs all its parts to work.

And so does Laura Dougall.

email: sports@ubspectrum.com