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- Real Salt Lake faces a goalkeeper overhaul in light of Zac MacMath's surgery and Gavin Beavers' European transfer.
- The team drafted two new goalkeepers and are reportedly bringing in Mason Stajduhar and Rafael Cabral to address instability.
- MacMath faces a three-to-five-month recovery after surgery to repair a torn latissimus dorsi muscle.
SANDY — Under recent Hall of Fame electee Nick Rimando, the Real Salt Lake goalkeeper position was a bastion of consistency for 13 years.
It has been anything but consistent since his retirement in 2019, however.
The instability reached a boiling point during the team's most recent offseason after 33-year-old Zac MacMath and 19-year-old Gavin Beavers split starts and minutes in goal for most of 2024.
Frustrations were raised over the second half of the season as both keepers suffered several multi-goal defeats and clean sheets became scarce.
MacMath started both playoff games for RSL and performed admirably — especially considering a recent revelation of injury — but it appeared the club identified its own need for help in goal when it drafted two keepers in the MLS SuperDraft in December.
It was the first time RSL selected a single goalkeeper in the draft since 2017.
Then, this week, RSL acquired 27-year-old goalie Mason Stajduhar from Orlando and reports emerged of a deal being finalized to bring 34-year-old Brazilian keeper Rafael Cabral to Utah.
During start-of-season media sessions Wednesday and Thursday, RSL chief soccer officer Kurt Schmid said Beavers is "on his way out" of Utah in a reported European transfer and MacMath revealed he will undergo surgery for a torn latissimus dorsi muscle (shoulder/lower back) he suffered in September of last year.
Zac MacMath on Beavers' move to Europe
— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) January 16, 2025
"He never really got to play 6, 8, 10 games in a row. That's where goalkeepers really start to mature and gain experience from the ebb and flow. I'm excited for him, wish him all the best and hope that we're seeing him at the 26 World Cup." pic.twitter.com/6W0K8kDwca
"I wanted to try to play through it because I thought I had a chance to play," MacMath said of the lat injury. "I found out last week that that wasn't going to happen, so I am electing to get surgery to get to 100% health."
MacMath said the surgeon told him it would be a three-to-five-month recovery after surgery.
New signee Stajduhar has an intense recent injury history of his own after fracturing his tibia and fibula with Orlando last summer just one week removed from setting the club record for saves in a game with 11. He is back to full health to begin 2025 and will likely serve as the backup keeper.
Cabral projects to be the starter in goal for RSL this season with 10 years of experience in Europe and a handful of appearances with the Brazilian national team.
"Zac's obviously still around and helping guys get ready," defender Philip Quinton said. "I think it's an opportunity where we have to step up individually and collectively to make sure that with new pieces — both in the back, but also up front and kind of everyone on the field — that we're on the same page."
