Reis Has Shown He Can Be Trusted in an Emergency

When starting goalkeeper Kevin Hartman injured his left knee and required surgery two weeks ago, Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid had no hesitation in throwing Matt Reis in off the deep end.

After all, it had happened before in Reis’ career and he hadn’t sunk.

“I went through this thing at UCLA in my sophomore year,” Reis said. “I played maybe two or three games the whole year and all of a sudden in the [NCAA] semifinals [Chris] Snitko gets a red card and I’ve got to go in, and now I’m playing in the final four.”

With Hartman still sidelined, Reis will be in the nets for the fifth consecutive game tonight when the second-place Galaxy plays the first-place Kansas City Wizards at the Rose Bowl in a pivotal Major League Soccer game.

That just about doubles his number of starts, which totaled only six in two years coming into this season.

Reis, who lives in Mission Viejo, occupies that most difficult of soccer positions--backup to a top flight keeper, Hartman, who in 1999 was the league’s goalkeeper of the year. “It’s tough, because you’ve got to practice, you’ve got to prepare like you’re the starter,” Reis said. “You never know.

“It’s just hard to stay motivated and it’s hard to stay on top of your game. You go up and down, up and down. Whereas if you’re a starter, you know what you’ve got to do; you’ve got to get ready for the weekend and you can gradually build up, work hard and then taper off a little bit. But if you’re a backup, you’ve got to be ready the whole time.

“It’s mentally draining and it’s mentally tough. That’s what a lot of people don’t understand.”

Reis’ Galaxy teammates understand. They have total faith in him, a faith he has justified by helping win three of the team’s last four games. .

“It’s tougher for him than it is for us, because we know he’s a great goalkeeper,” Galaxy defender and captain Robin Fraser said. “We don’t have any worries if Matt’s in or Kevin’s in. To us it doesn’t matter, they’re both very good goalkeepers.

“I’m sorry that this is the circumstance under which he’s getting to play--Kevin being hurt--but it’s good for Matt to play and show that he’s a good goalkeeper. It’s good for his confidence.”

Reis and Hartman are good friends despite being rivals for the same position.

“He’s done so well behind me,” Hartman said. “It’s been his help that’s really pushed me and made me advance as a goalkeeper. I think that if the roles were reversed, I don’t know if I’d be as quiet [about being on the bench]. I’m a little bit of a different character.

“But he’s proven himself as a professional and he’s somebody I have the utmost respect for. . . . With his help and the guys on defense, they’re definitely the reason I was goalkeeper of the year last year.”

No matter how well he is doing, Reis is not trying to take unfair advantage of Hartman’s absence.

“It’s Kevin’s starting position,” he said, “and when he gets healthy and comes back we’re going to have to battle for it. I’m filling in right now. It’s the type of thing when you’re a goalie and you get hurt, you don’t want to have it in the back of your mind that you’ve lost your position. You’ve got to know that it’s still yours when you come back.

“But with these games hopefully I can get on a roll with the team. . . . That’s what I have to do now. I have to win games and I have to make it tough for the coaching staff to pick a No. 1 goalkeeper.”

Or perhaps catch the eye of another MLS team that might be looking for a starter?

Reis isn’t looking to move, but won’t discount the possibility.

“Whatever happens, happens,” he said. “For now, I need to look at the next game coming up, . . . hopefully build off that and keep going. Make my claim [and say] ‘Look at me, I can play this position too.’ ”