Stuuuuuuupendous: Sizing up Brad Stuver's six years of service
Brad Stuver was a surprising opening day starter in 2021, en route to becoming a six-year fixture in goal. For the last five years, he's been measurably one of MLS' best.
April 17, 2021, the date Austin FC made its Major League Soccer debut, held one significant surprise revealed when the starting lineup was announced.
The first Austin FC lineup (April 17, 2021)
Andrew Tarbell was projected to be the starting goalkeeper, coming off a decent year as Columbus' backup goalkeeper, with a year of experience as a starter (albeit at 2018 San Jose, giving up 60 goals over 29 matches).
But instead, head coach Josh Wolff turned to a former MLS pool goalkeeper and a career backup, albeit backing up accomplished goalkeepers with the Crew and NYCFC.
That choice led to six years of almost entirely inked-in starts for the arguably the most durable and consistent of the Verde OGs.
Brad Stuver has the bulk of his 800-plus career saves in an Austin FC kit, and is coming off an All-Star season in 2025, following being the MLS saves leader in 2023 and 2024. Yet, he is currently — for reasons not entirely evident — in his longest stretch without starts since a bizarre goalpost-induced injury suffered in a 2022 match in Houston that kept him sidelined for several weeks.
It's a curious omission from the Verde lineup, especially since it started when the team was still striving for a playoff spot. Interim head coach Davy Arnaud opted for Damian Las in the season-extending win at Sporting Kansas City, and then went with Las again for the home loss against Real Salt Lake four days later knocking Verde out of playoff contention. On a short turnaround three days later in Carson, LA Galaxy put up four goals on Las in his third straight start, ballooning his goals against per match to 2.33 in that stretch — though one might argue that Stuver wouldn't have fared better given the defensive lapses that set up those goals.
What can't be contested is that Stuver has kept a consistent place over the last five seasons as one of the best goalkeepers in MLS. Prior to his benching — if that's what we can truly characterize this recent run of Las games as — Stuver did have turnovers resulting in a goal ceded (to LAFC) and nearly ceded (to Vancouver) which perhaps figured into the decision to go with the younger goalkeeper for a stretch.
Asked about the situation during Thursday's media availability, Arnaud continued to be somewhat cryptic as to what's currently happening.
"We typically give the lineup day before the game [to the team], so we'll give the lineup the day before the game," Arnaud said. "But whether it's Brad or Damian, both of them are are ready. Both of them are obviously motivated to play the game on Saturday, as everybody is. And whichever one it's going to be, they're going to be prepared and we're ready to do the job that we need to win the game."
Following Saturday's loss in Carson, Arnaud said this:
"We want to see Damian get a run of games to get some minutes, to see what he has with a consistent run of games. Again, he earned his playing time from the two or three performances he had earlier in the year ... to give him a run and give him a give him minutes; that's how you learn what guys are about."
Indeed, it might be prudent, at this juncture in an ultimately lost season, to see what Las is capable of at this stage in his development – and whether he's ready to take on a starting job, either as Stuver's successor or with another club in an offseason deal. Stefan Cleveland, Stuver's backup in 2025, moved to SKC in the offseason and won the starting job over opening day starter John Pulskamp, so perhaps there's a similar opportunity for Las somewhere.
Ultimately, it will be up to Verde's chief soccer officer, Khaled El-Ahmad, and the incoming head coach, Jim Curtin, to decide whether the 35-year-old Stuver (turning 36 in the sprint season) needs a successor right now. Let me make the case, to anyone who wants to hear it, that he doesn't.
The raw stats
Per FotMob, this is what Stuver has looked like in 2026, and how that compares to other keepers in the league.
We'll start with some visualizations.
And now some stats for the season.
It's probably more fair to do a comparison with Las using per 90 numbers, so let's include Stuver's here.
And this is what Las is doing in his small sample size.
You can see that Las is a little better with distribution generally and with accurate long balls in particular. But Stuver is an elite shot stopper, and even though Las is close in per 90 numbers, Stuver's goals prevented number and save percentage are both better.
Though FBref has done away with the valuable goals minus post-shot xG stat tracking that we talked about in our pre-All-Star Game praise of Stuver last year, the nearly 10 goals prevented in 2026 per FotMob shows his continued value as a shotstopper using a slightly different metric.
That 2025 article also delved into American Soccer Analysis' goals added metric for goalkeepers, looking at the solid season that Stuver was having to date. It's worth revisiting goals added on a larger scale, because (1) it is available to us, and (2) it shows something fascinating over time.
Goals added: A metric that likes Stuver
When Stuver began his Austin FC career as an instant starter in 2021, he was on an expansion team that saw one of its more experienced backline players, fullback Ben Sweat, tear his ACL 20 minutes into Verde's second match. Veteran Matt Besler, a defensive anchor during his time at Sporting Kansas City, played just 20 matches in what turned out to be his final season. Jhohan Romaña, one of the most enigmatic players in Verde history, started 25 matches,
And yet, with those defenders in front of him, Stuver managed to finish, per the goals added compendium of stats, in MLS' top 10 that season. (Keep in mind that this is set as an above or below average measure, with zero as the average.)
From there, it got even better. Though Sebastián Driussi's 22 goals was a major factor in Verde's 2022 success, Stuver put in his first top five performance that season, only bested by three other keepers, including Đorđe Petrović, who punched a ticket to Chelsea based on his performance that year (and the next year), and Andre Blake, who led the Union to MLS Cup only giving up 26 goals on the season and notching 15 clean sheets.
In 2023, Stuver continued that form, in his first of two consecutive years leading the league in saves.
That continued into 2024.
And then came Stuver's All-Star year — partially a function of Austin hosting and his head coach at the time, Nico Estévez, selecting him, but also seen by some around the league as an acknowledgement of multiyear consistency.
2026 has arguably been Stuver's toughest season since 2021. He's given up 52 goals in 28 matches, making it his highest goals allowed per game average since arriving at Austin FC. His team will land between 34 and 37 points, second-lowest in club history. If he starts Saturday, he must hold Portland to two goals or fewer to avoid at least tying his single season most goals allowed. Yet, he's still top five among MLS goalkeepers per goals added, largely on the strength of his shotstopping.
What's most fascinating about this five-year stretch is that while other goalkeepers oscillate above and below where Stuver stays, Stuver remains consistently fourth or fifth, and until this season, has been above the 3000-minute mark every season — even in his injury-interrupted 2022.
On average, over his five seasons in the top five, he's at nearly six goals added a seasons. To give you a sense of how important goalkeepers are in the goals added world, there's only one outfield player in 2026 who rises above 4.37, where Preston Judd sits in the No. 2 spot. That's Lionel Messi, who has an astronomical 14.06. (Austin's goals added outfield leader this season is Guilherme Biro, at 0.90.)
And this season, if you use the goals added per 96 measure — ASA likes per 96 rather than per 90 to figure for stoppage time and for how long players actually go from whistle to whistle – Stuver rates a 0.28 per 96, while Las is right at zero. Per the metric, Stuver's adding a little over a goal's worth of contributions in every four-game block, where per his limited sample size, Las' goals added is at a league-average level.
Per conventional goalkeeper stats, Stuver's fourth in saves and eighth in save percentage, though only has five clean sheets in a season marked by late goals given up and defensive lapses. He gets a lot of saves because a lot of teams shoot on him, but his save percentage indicates just how much work he's doing.
That's not to say that Las can't grow and develop into a goalkeeper that consistently gets the ratings that Stuver's gotten during his time in Austin. But it can also happen with another team, and if this run of matches for Las precludes a move to another MLS team to continue his journey, it wouldn't be surprising.
Put Las on SKC right now, for instance, and per goals added, he's an instant upgrade over Cleveland (-2.29) or Pulskamp (-5.69). Put him on St. Louis, and he theoretically bests the touted Roman Bürki (-2.80) or Ben Lundt (-1.60).
What's clear from this exercise is Stuver is still in the top tier of MLS goalkeepers, and when Curtin comes to Austin in weeks, he knows that he has a stable, solid, experienced shotstopper who can be relied on to play all 34 matches in a season. Arnaud has decided — as he has with a few elements of the team this season — to deviate from what's expected in service to a vision he has.
Whether this benching has relationship ripple effects beyond this end-of-season stretch is a question to look at when the team plays again — especially if Arnaud does stay on Curtin's staff as the one coaching constant through three head coaching eras. But to have this be the awkward end of Stuver's time in Austin is not only unthinkable, but from my perspective at least, inadvisable.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts, and join us on Instagram to get updates on all our stories and podcast releases.
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April 17, 2021, the date Austin FC made its Major League Soccer debut, held one significant surprise revealed when the starting lineup was announced.
Andrew Tarbell was projected to be the starting goalkeeper, coming off a decent year as Columbus' backup goalkeeper, with a year of experience as a starter (albeit at 2018 San Jose, giving up 60 goals over 29 matches).
But instead, head coach Josh Wolff turned to a former MLS pool goalkeeper and a career backup, albeit backing up accomplished goalkeepers with the Crew and NYCFC.
That choice led to six years of almost entirely inked-in starts for the arguably the most durable and consistent of the Verde OGs.
Brad Stuver has the bulk of his 800-plus career saves in an Austin FC kit, and is coming off an All-Star season in 2025, following being the MLS saves leader in 2023 and 2024. Yet, he is currently — for reasons not entirely evident — in his longest stretch without starts since a bizarre goalpost-induced injury suffered in a 2022 match in Houston that kept him sidelined for several weeks.
It's a curious omission from the Verde lineup, especially since it started when the team was still striving for a playoff spot. Interim head coach Davy Arnaud opted for Damian Las in the season-extending win at Sporting Kansas City, and then went with Las again for the home loss against Real Salt Lake four days later knocking Verde out of playoff contention. On a short turnaround three days later in Carson, LA Galaxy put up four goals on Las in his third straight start, ballooning his goals against per match to 2.33 in that stretch — though one might argue that Stuver wouldn't have fared better given the defensive lapses that set up those goals.
What can't be contested is that Stuver has kept a consistent place over the last five seasons as one of the best goalkeepers in MLS. Prior to his benching — if that's what we can truly characterize this recent run of Las games as — Stuver did have turnovers resulting in a goal ceded (to LAFC) and nearly ceded (to Vancouver) which perhaps figured into the decision to go with the younger goalkeeper for a stretch.
Asked about the situation during Thursday's media availability, Arnaud continued to be somewhat cryptic as to what's currently happening.
"We typically give the lineup day before the game [to the team], so we'll give the lineup the day before the game," Arnaud said. "But whether it's Brad or Damian, both of them are are ready. Both of them are obviously motivated to play the game on Saturday, as everybody is. And whichever one it's going to be, they're going to be prepared and we're ready to do the job that we need to win the game."
Following Saturday's loss in Carson, Arnaud said this:
"We want to see Damian get a run of games to get some minutes, to see what he has with a consistent run of games. Again, he earned his playing time from the two or three performances he had earlier in the year ... to give him a run and give him a give him minutes; that's how you learn what guys are about."
Indeed, it might be prudent, at this juncture in an ultimately lost season, to see what Las is capable of at this stage in his development – and whether he's ready to take on a starting job, either as Stuver's successor or with another club in an offseason deal. Stefan Cleveland, Stuver's backup in 2025, moved to SKC in the offseason and won the starting job over opening day starter John Pulskamp, so perhaps there's a similar opportunity for Las somewhere.
Ultimately, it will be up to Verde's chief soccer officer, Khaled El-Ahmad, and the incoming head coach, Jim Curtin, to decide whether the 35-year-old Stuver (turning 36 in the sprint season) needs a successor right now. Let me make the case, to anyone who wants to hear it, that he doesn't.
The raw stats
Per FotMob, this is what Stuver has looked like in 2026, and how that compares to other keepers in the league.
We'll start with some visualizations.
And now some stats for the season.
It's probably more fair to do a comparison with Las using per 90 numbers, so let's include Stuver's here.
And this is what Las is doing in his small sample size.
You can see that Las is a little better with distribution generally and with accurate long balls in particular. But Stuver is an elite shot stopper, and even though Las is close in per 90 numbers, Stuver's goals prevented number and save percentage are both better.
Though FBref has done away with the valuable goals minus post-shot xG stat tracking that we talked about in our pre-All-Star Game praise of Stuver last year, the nearly 10 goals prevented in 2026 per FotMob shows his continued value as a shotstopper using a slightly different metric.
That 2025 article also delved into American Soccer Analysis' goals added metric for goalkeepers, looking at the solid season that Stuver was having to date. It's worth revisiting goals added on a larger scale, because (1) it is available to us, and (2) it shows something fascinating over time.
Goals added: A metric that likes Stuver
When Stuver began his Austin FC career as an instant starter in 2021, he was on an expansion team that saw one of its more experienced backline players, fullback Ben Sweat, tear his ACL 20 minutes into Verde's second match. Veteran Matt Besler, a defensive anchor during his time at Sporting Kansas City, played just 20 matches in what turned out to be his final season. Jhohan Romaña, one of the most enigmatic players in Verde history, started 25 matches,
And yet, with those defenders in front of him, Stuver managed to finish, per the goals added compendium of stats, in MLS' top 10 that season. (Keep in mind that this is set as an above or below average measure, with zero as the average.)
From there, it got even better. Though Sebastián Driussi's 22 goals was a major factor in Verde's 2022 success, Stuver put in his first top five performance that season, only bested by three other keepers, including Đorđe Petrović, who punched a ticket to Chelsea based on his performance that year (and the next year), and Andre Blake, who led the Union to MLS Cup only giving up 26 goals on the season and notching 15 clean sheets.
In 2023, Stuver continued that form, in his first of two consecutive years leading the league in saves.
That continued into 2024.
And then came Stuver's All-Star year — partially a function of Austin hosting and his head coach at the time, Nico Estévez, selecting him, but also seen by some around the league as an acknowledgement of multiyear consistency.
2026 has arguably been Stuver's toughest season since 2021. He's given up 52 goals in 28 matches, making it his highest goals allowed per game average since arriving at Austin FC. His team will land between 34 and 37 points, second-lowest in club history. If he starts Saturday, he must hold Portland to two goals or fewer to avoid at least tying his single season most goals allowed. Yet, he's still top five among MLS goalkeepers per goals added, largely on the strength of his shotstopping.
What's most fascinating about this five-year stretch is that while other goalkeepers oscillate above and below where Stuver stays, Stuver remains consistently fourth or fifth, and until this season, has been above the 3000-minute mark every season — even in his injury-interrupted 2022.
On average, over his five seasons in the top five, he's at nearly six goals added a seasons. To give you a sense of how important goalkeepers are in the goals added world, there's only one outfield player in 2026 who rises above 4.37, where Preston Judd sits in the No. 2 spot. That's Lionel Messi, who has an astronomical 14.06. (Austin's goals added outfield leader this season is Guilherme Biro, at 0.90.)
And this season, if you use the goals added per 96 measure — ASA likes per 96 rather than per 90 to figure for stoppage time and for how long players actually go from whistle to whistle – Stuver rates a 0.28 per 96, while Las is right at zero. Per the metric, Stuver's adding a little over a goal's worth of contributions in every four-game block, where per his limited sample size, Las' goals added is at a league-average level.
Per conventional goalkeeper stats, Stuver's fourth in saves and eighth in save percentage, though only has five clean sheets in a season marked by late goals given up and defensive lapses. He gets a lot of saves because a lot of teams shoot on him, but his save percentage indicates just how much work he's doing.
That's not to say that Las can't grow and develop into a goalkeeper that consistently gets the ratings that Stuver's gotten during his time in Austin. But it can also happen with another team, and if this run of matches for Las precludes a move to another MLS team to continue his journey, it wouldn't be surprising.
Put Las on SKC right now, for instance, and per goals added, he's an instant upgrade over Cleveland (-2.29) or Pulskamp (-5.69). Put him on St. Louis, and he theoretically bests the touted Roman Bürki (-2.80) or Ben Lundt (-1.60).
What's clear from this exercise is Stuver is still in the top tier of MLS goalkeepers, and when Curtin comes to Austin in weeks, he knows that he has a stable, solid, experienced shotstopper who can be relied on to play all 34 matches in a season. Arnaud has decided — as he has with a few elements of the team this season — to deviate from what's expected in service to a vision he has.
Whether this benching has relationship ripple effects beyond this end-of-season stretch is a question to look at when the team plays again — especially if Arnaud does stay on Curtin's staff as the one coaching constant through three head coaching eras. But to have this be the awkward end of Stuver's time in Austin is not only unthinkable, but from my perspective at least, inadvisable.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts, and join us on Instagram to get updates on all our stories and podcast releases.
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