There’s one record in soccer that likely can’t be broken without leaving a few games a little broken-hearted.

Fridley goalkeeper Addison Aleshire finished her high school career as the state’s all-time leader in saves with 1,117. To earn that title, a keeper needs to face shots. A lot of them. Some will go in. At that volume, that’s inevitable.

But Fridley’s 5-foot-7 netminder found small victories and big numbers in the Tigers’ losses. Fridley ended the 2025 season with a 2-14-1 record. After her five years in goal for Fridley, Aleshire — and her opponents — know a player’s excellence does not always show in the game’s final score.

“People who don’t play soccer don’t really know … what you put into games like that,” Aleshire said.

Aleshire’s numbers piled up the way a hockey goalie’s numbers do, on save after save sometimes only seconds apart. And they came in various ways — a sprawling dive low to her right, followed by a leap in the air to her left. She accumulated more than 30 saves in games against Providence Academy, Twin Cities Academy, St. Anthony and Irondale.

“We haven’t really been the most winning team in history, by any means, but in that position she’s getting work constantly,” Fridley coach Zach Bobick said. “If you’ve ever seen her play, then you just see her busting her butt.”

Aleshire used to tear up when it was her turn to step in net for her youth club team. It was “goalie by committee,” a method of rotating keepers when no one player wanted to bear the burden of being a team’s final line of defense, Bobick said.

That was until Aleshire, at 11, blanked the opposing team in a penalty shootout and said to herself: “This isn’t so bad after all.”

Thrown into the deep end

Aleshire took over as Fridley’s starting keeper as an eighth-grader. She had quick reflexes, fast hands, a nice punt, smart positioning and club soccer experience. “You’re the one,” Bobick told her.

“It’s always hard when you’re 14 years old to kind of have the weight of the team’s success and failure on your shoulders,” Bobick said. “From the moment she stepped on the field, even though she was one of the youngest ones handed the position, she was able to get organized and orchestrate our team.”

As an eighth-grader, Aleshire was nervous to play teams like perennial state contender Holy Angels. She could sense herself getting frustrated, making three dozen saves just to watch a half-dozen shots glance off her gloves and into the back of the net.

She leaned on her parents, who were there when Aleshire admitted, “I don’t even know if I want to do this anymore.” She focused on “making my little self happy.”

“The biggest part for me, especially after the game, is just to reflect on how many [shots] they had, how many goals went in, and then just adding that up and thinking, ‘OK, well, there could have been 48 goals that went in, but I was able to save over two-thirds of them.’ ”

Like Aleshire, Fridley found victories that didn’t show up in the win column. The Tigers celebrated close games. They brought an encouraging number of new players into the program. Aleshire played on the field in several matches and scored a team-high 11 goals. Full of heart and intensity, she consistently delivered feedback to her teammates.

“She says all the things that we were going to say before we get there,” Bobick said.

Getting the record

The individual saves record is not something the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association keeps track of in its public record books, but the Minnesota State High School League lists Glencoe-Silver Lake’s Destiney Exsted as the prior record holder, with 850 saves.

By the time Fridley reached its section quarterfinal, Aleshire already had surpassed that mark. She was no longer her eighth-grade self, terrified to match up against Providence Academy and the state’s soon-to-be all-time leading scorer, Maddyn Greenway. Instead, Aleshire was ecstatic.

“A record-breaking striker going against a record-breaking goalkeeper — it was super fun,” Aleshire said.

The pair snapped a photo together after Providence Academy won 14-0. Aleshire made 49 saves, and Greenway scored 10 goals.

Other coaches recognized Aleshire’s talent, and she earned Class 2A all-state honors in 2024 and was one of 15 Minnesotan girls to make this year’s watchlist for December’s high school All-American game. Last year, Holy Angels head coach David Marshak described Aleshire as “one of the best keepers in the state … every bit as good as the college-committed goalkeepers that I have seen."

“We play these super good private schools. Just to know that those coaches had my back, even though they didn’t know me, they didn’t know what I was going through, they just stood up for me in some way … it was a great feeling, for sure,” Aleshire said.

Bobick said the most frequent thing he hears from opposing conference coaches is a compliment in the form of a hopeful question: “Has your keeper graduated yet?” Now, as Aleshire still explores college soccer options, Bobick will have to reluctantly tell them that, yes, she has.

“[I’m] able to look back at all the hard work and growth, the perseverance that I’ve had over the years, and just to know how much I worked for it,“ Aleshire said. ”It’s not just a number in a record book, right? There’s a story behind it.”