Coach Danny Cruz has had relatively few holes to fill in the roster this off-season. One of the openings was for a 3rd goalkeeper. Oliver Semmle (pronounced zem-luh), a German formerly part of the Karlsruhe setup, has put pen to paper and joined Louisville City for 2023. As a youth player in Germany, his Karlsruhe team won the 2017/2018 Baden Cup. The 24-year-old began his time in the US at Barton Community College before going to Monroe College and finally landing at Marshall just in time to be part of their 2020 National Championship season.
During his junior season at Marshall, he set a team record with 11 shutouts and led the entire NCAA in 2020-21 with 11 shutouts, ranked fourth with a 0.38 goals-against average, and earned numerous accolades such as the Conference USA Goalkeeper of the Year, Conference USA Golden Glove Award and First-Team All-Conference USA. In his senior year, he produced a 1.12 goals-against average to go with his 10-4-3 overall record. He was named to the 2021 United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region Third Team and 2021 Second Team All-Conference USA. He came back in 2022 for his graduate season, where he led the Sun Belt Conference with a .738 goals-against average and ranked second with a .774 save percentage. He earned six shutouts in 2022 and reach a Marshall University record of 25 clean sheets during his three-year career.
Semmle went on to be drafted by the Colorado Rapids with the 41st overall pick (Round 2, Pick 12) in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft.
“We are thrilled to be able to add Oliver to our group,” said Coach Danny Cruz. “Throughout this offseason our goalkeepers coach, Scott Budnick, did an excellent job of identifying a long list of names that we felt could play an important role at this club. Ultimately, Oliver fit the positional profile of what we were looking for. He is calm under pressure and reads the game very well. We have already seen in his preseason minutes the quality that he brings in our buildout. I am looking forward to continuing to watch his development this year as he challenges the goalkeeping group to be at its best every single day.”
“I‘m very happy and grateful to be part of the Louisville City family now by signing my first professional contract,” Semmle said. “I‘m looking forward to working with and learning from a group of players and coaches that has had great success in the past. I also can’t wait to meet the fans in our home stadium and to get started to achieve our goal to winning a USL Championship title.”
Depth in the goalie position is never a bad thing to have and given he is only 24, he has a lot of career ahead of him. It will be a challenge to find minutes behind the established Kyle Morton or Danny Faundez coming off a big 2022. However, his performances have met the high standards of the LouCity staff so perhaps he could challenge his more veteran peers. Excited to see him in action!
Check out the videos below to see LouCity’s latest addition in action.
Parting Thoughts
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