Former ND goalkeeper Bass enjoys successful season at Rockhurst

Goalkeeper Ryan Bass loved shootouts until his recent streak started during his senior year on the Notre Dame Regional High School boys soccer team.

Helias defeated Bass and the Bulldogs on penalty kicks in a Class 2 state semifinal during the 2008 final four.

Bass now is the starting keeper for the Rockhurst University soccer team. His misfortune continued in the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament semifinals when he suffered a loss to Quincy on penalty kicks.

Then came the NCAA Division II tournament. Bass didn't make a save through regulation and two overtime sessions against Millersville in their elite eight game. He recorded his first save on Millersville's second penalty kick, but Millersville ended up winning the shootout 7-6 to reach the final four. The defeat pushed Bass to 0-3 in his last three shootouts.

"Loved PK shootouts my entire life growing up, but right now I'm a little at ends with them," Bass said.

Ryan Bass

Bass said Monday that he kept replaying the Millersville penalty kicks in his mind.

"I put it all on myself, to be honest," he said. "Everybody else gets a shot apiece, then I get five chances to stop. ... To lose two shootouts on something I feel I'm pretty good at when it comes to making the save when you need it, I don't want to say it hurt my confidence or anything like that, but it just sucks today knowing we don't have practice tomorrow because I could have had the one to my left or I should have gone to my right on another. It's just one of those things."

He said the latest penalty kicks setback hurts the most.

"In high school, I'd already won state twice," he said. "It sucked not doing that, but to already win that twice and just go for it a third time. Falling short in the semifinal when people said you couldn't get close to a three-peat was one thing. The conference semifinal, that one is probably the lowest of the three just for the fact we lost to a team we beat 5-0 earlier in the year and it was all a mindset. ... We knew we were still moving on, so it wasn't the end of the world.

"This, to get so close to going to the NCAA final four and going down to Pensacola, Fla., in two weeks, that really hurt, especially when you're ranked the No. 1 defense. The coaches ranked us No. 6. We were the third-highest seed left. Just all the expectations and falling short."

The loss spoiled a remarkable season for Bass. He led the nation in goals-against average (.328), tied for tops in the country in shutouts (14) and finished second overall in save percentage (.885). He only allowed seven goals in 1,920 minutes, 52 seconds of play this season.

"We had the mindset coming into the year of having a no-nonsense defense," Bass said. "A lot of times when a defender comes under a little bit of pressure, instead of clearing the ball and being safe with it and stuff like that, they'll try to make a move or a short pass. So at the beginning of the year, the coaches really focused on getting the defenders to know if you're in trouble, if there's someone coming on, just kick it and we'll get everybody behind. We'll get the defense set up and we'll go for it again.

"The defenders I have are great."

Bass explored Division I options when he was deciding on a college and had extensive conversations with the University of Kentucky. But Bass did not want to travel too far from home because his father, Terry, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer during the summer before Ryan's senior year at Notre Dame. Ryan decided to choose a college closer to home, one where his father would be able to watch him play.

The coaching staff at Rockhurst told Ryan he would be given an opportunity to start his freshman season and it was close enough that Terry could make the drive to watch his son. Terry got to watch Ryan play one game, against Drury University during Ryan's freshman year. Ryan allowed two goals and admits it was a rough game. He was benched until the last few games of the season. Terry died in March of 2010, and Ryan said he's thankful he chose Rockhurst.

Bass underwent surgery for a torn rotator cuff before last season, and his status was uncertain heading into the early games.

"They were like we're going to redshirt you," Bass said about the Rockhurst coaching staff. "It's not worth you trying something. The other goalie is doing all right.

"They didn't tell me, but they changed their mind before they left for the trip [to Evansville, Ind.]. They called me and were like, 'Hey, where are you?' at 8 o'clock in the morning. I was like, 'I'm in bed.' They were like, 'Well you're supposed to be traveling.' I was like, 'Well you told me this week I was redshirting.' They said, 'Nope, we changed our mind. Get on the bus.' I got up, ran, went on the trip.

"We played Kentucky Wesleyan in southern Indiana and I actually played the second half of the Wesleyan game and there was a cross. I went out to punch the ball and the forward headed the ball at the same time and my arm went back into my shoulder joint and everything just swelled up. So I finished that game and after that, I was like, 'I'm done.'"

Bass ended up redshirting last season, so he is a junior academically but only a sophomore athletically.

He knew he wasn't guaranteed the starting job entering this season. He and senior Kyle Clawson battled for the spot, but Bass said an exhibition against Missouri-Kansas City locked up his role as the starter.

"Through practice and stuff like that, I kind of showed that I was the starter," Bass said. "In the UMKC scrimmage, I played like 20 minutes in the second half and had a breakaway and a PK save. They let [Clawson] play the first game against Sioux Falls, which is the home opener, which is kind of an easier game. I started my first game against Missouri S&T, which they were preseason ranked No. 13 in the nation. I shut them out and had a great save at the end of the game. It really just solidified it. They said after that game I was starting the rest of the year."

That shutout was his first of 14 solo shutouts during the season. He posted a 16-2-3 record and said he would have led the nation in save percentage and shutouts if not for an ill-fated step at Truman State in Rockhurst's regular-season finale.

"I went to kick the ball and it was a hard ground and it was raining," he said. "I just slipped and kicked the ball right to their forward and fell down and gave up a goal there and knocked down the save percentage pretty good for me."

Bass showed his sarcastic side when summarizing the trip to Truman State.

"Took away a shutout, added to my goals against and took away from my save percentage," he said. "It was a great trip. Plus I got all the ridicule from everyone on the team about giving an assist to their team before I could get an assist for our team."

The slip hurt Bass' statistics and his pride, but he was rewarded for his impressive season by being named the GLVC defensive player of the year and the keeper on the all-Midwest Region first team. He will find out if he made the All-America team when it is announced Wednesday.