Orlando City
2023 Orlando City Season in Review: Mason Stajduhar
The Homegrown goalkeeper spent another season as Pedro Gallese’s understudy.
Orlando City backup goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar is one of the longest tenured Lions on the roster, having signed a Homegrown Player contract all the way back on Nov. 9, 2015. Following the 2021 season, in which he saw his role begin to develop, Stajduhar had his contract option exercised to keep him on the roster through 2022. During the course of last season, he inked a new three-year contract with the club designed to keep him in purple and gold through 2025 with a club option for 2026. Now firmly entrenched as the backup to Peruvian keeper Pedro Gallese, this season Stajduhar was solid when called upon in his reserve role.
Let’s take a look back at his 2023 season.
Statistical Breakdown
Stajduhar made his regular-season debut on March 25 in a 2-1 road victory against the Philadelphia Union. During the regular season, Stajduhar played in four matches (all starts), conceding six goals on 57 shots faced in his 360 minutes of playing time. The Lions were 2-1-1 in those matches. He finished with 12 saves and a save percentage of 66.7%. One of his six goals allowed was an absolute stunner in the second meeting between the Lions and the Union scored by Jose Martinez to level the match and who, I maintain, if given the same shot 100 times, could never recreate the same magic strike again.
Stajduhar passed at a 60.7% rate, down approximately 10% from last years passing success rate, received one yellow card, kept one clean sheet, and also was credited picking up his first career assist on the road against Toronto FC on a beautiful long ball to Duncan McGuire.
The Homegrown goalkeeper started in net for Orlando City’s lone U.S. Open Cup match against Charlotte FC, which ended in a 1-0 loss for the Lions. He made three saves on six shot attempts (four on target). Stajduhar passed at an 84.6% rate in USOC play. Ultimately, the early departure for Orlando City came down less to Mason allowing a goal and far more to the team’s early season inability to find the back of the net.
Stajduhar also appeared in three matches (all starts) with OCB during the reserve side’s second MLS NEXT Pro season, playing 253 minutes. OCB was 1-2-0 with Mason in goal. He allowed 10 goals and finished with a 33.9% save percentage, five saves, an 81.3% passing accuracy, and conceded both penalty kicks that he faced.
Best Game
While the sample size roughly stayed the same year over year, Stajduhar had two matches to choose from which could be considered his best of the year in 2023. The 2-1 victory on the road against the Philadelphia Union and the clean sheet against Toronto FC on Decision Day. Even though a clean sheet and recording an assist as a keeper are notable accomplishments, I am still going to pick the 2-1 victory against the Union as his best match for two reasons. First, no disrespect to the dumpster fire this year known as Toronto FC, but the team from the north had nothing to play for in the final match of the season, and second, because of what the win in the City of Brotherly Love meant at the time.
In the early parts of the regular season Orlando was on a see-saw, and to make matters worse, the Union had been home juggernauts over multiple seasons prior to dropping the home match to OCSC. Both squads were depleted due to international duty, but Stajduhar stood strong and came up with five saves on the night and only conceded on a rebound off the post which came right back to former Lion Andres Perea while Mason was already stuck behind the woodwork after his initial dive. The win didn’t necessarily right the ship, as Orlando went on to alternate wins and losses over the next five matches, but it did show the spark that Orlando could compete with anyone in the East.
2023 Final Grade
The Mane Land staff awarded Stajduhar a composite grade of 6.5 out of 10 for the 2023 season, equaling his grade that he received during the 2022 campaign. While his time in goal for the U.S. Open Cup run was cut short, Stajduhar did play in two additional MLS regular-season matches this year compared to last and helped the team secure seven points out possible 12 during the regular season.
2024 Outlook
Under contract for the foreseeable future, Stajduhar, simply put, is this team’s number two option and we expect that to continue. While Pedro Gallese is away with Peru on international duty and with City preparing to participate in even more competitions during the 2024 season, such as the U.S. Open Cup, Leagues Cup, Concacaf Champions Cup and the MLS regular season, Mason will have opportunities to continue winning for Orlando City and we expect him to be ready when his number is called.