Mary Earps becomes first goalkeeper to reach WSL clean sheet milestone
Manchester United star Mary Earps kept the 50th clean sheet of her WSL career as the Red Devils beating Reading to go top of the table on Sunday, the first goalkeeper in the league’s 12-year history to reach the significant half century milestone.
Earps has been a WSL player since day one, making her debut as a teenager with Doncaster back in 2011. She later went on to play for Birmingham, Bristol Academy and Reading, before joining Manchester United in 2019 following a 12-month spell at Wolfsburg in Germany.
But the England number one has reached new heights in the last 18 months in particular.
The 1-0 win over Reading marked an eighth clean sheet in 11 WSL games this season alone for Earps, who has contributed massively to that impressive streak rather than merely being a passenger behind an ironclad defence in front of her.
Earps has made top saves throughout the season against the likes of Brighton, Everton and Leicester to keep racking up the shutouts. The Reading game was no different, flying across her goal in one particularly crucial moment late on to tip a header wide of the post. Not only did it preserve her clean sheet to reach the milestone, it also laid the foundation for United to then win the game.
Earps’ world class standing in the game was recently reflected by her nomination for The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper award alongside the likes of Christiane Endler and Alyssa Naeher.