They represent the last line of defense for their respective soccer teams, and both have been pretty darn good this season.

Mankato West senior Emily Wick and Mankato East junior Sarah Brozik bring a level of experience and competence to their teams that most head coaches only dream about. Both are three-year starters, both are intense yet level-headed competitors, both take their jobs very seriously.

“It’s a great comfort knowing Emily is back there every game,” West coach Crissy Makela said Wednesday, shortly after Wick recorded her seventh shutout of the season. “She’s seen just about everything you can see on a soccer field.

“If she sees something in our defensive line that needs adjusting I usually just let her set the defense the way she wants to. The other players will listen to what she says because they all respect her.”

Through 12 games this year, Wick has allowed 14 goals and made 98 saves. She has a 1.67 goals against average and an 87.5 save percentage.

Wick, who moved to Mankato from Washington state prior to the 2005-2006 school year, went out for volleyball as a freshman. Had she gone out for soccer right away, it’s likely she would be nearing or surpassing the school record for career shutouts (19) by now. Heading into tonight’s match she has 13 career shutouts.

“Even though she only had six shutouts coming into the season, her goal was to break that school record,” Makela said. “That’s the kind of competitor she is. It may not be realistic, but she’s going to do everything she can to get it.”

Brozik’s numbers are much less gaudy than Wick’s, mostly because the teammates who play in front of her are much less experienced. She has given up 31 goals in 13 games but has probably faced twice as many shots as her counterpart.

Brozik’s exact numbers won’t be tallied up until the end of the season. Head coach Metone Wamma is a reluctant goalkeeper in some respects.

“She hoped to play out in the field quite a bit this year but our other goalie (Mandy Smith) is only an eighth-grader,” Wamma said. “We’ve had Sarah out there a couple of times but, usually we need to keep her in goal.”

The quick, athletic Brozik admits she prefers playing forward but doesn’t begrudge her situation.

“I like all the running around you do at forward,” she said. “I was hoping it would be a 50-50 split this year but, when there’s an important game, the coach usually likes to have me in there.

“I was fortunate that I played for (the Mankato United Soccer Club U-16 team) this summer, and I played out all the time. We had a good year. We lost only one game and qualified for state.”

The postseason for both East and West begins in a couple of weeks. Coaches Makela and Wamma can take solace in the fact that, win or lose, their nets will be well covered.