Travis Worra stepped into 2018 with an opportunity to compete for the backup goalkeeper position with D.C. United. Coming off a 2016 and 2017 where he featured in 18 total matches, he probably hoped to get a few starts as the backup to Steve Clark. Then, D.C. United made a move for David Ousted on January 8th, and Travis Worra was relegated to being the 3rd goalkeeper on the depth chart. That meant that for the most part, Worra called Richmond his home in 2018, as part of a loan to the Richmond Kickers.
With the Kickers, Worra did have the opportunity to play, earning 15 starts and compiling a 5-9-1 record mostly through the first half of the season. He had 58 saves on 90 shots for a 64.4% save percentage, ranking 20th in number of saves in the USL (now USL Championship). He had 2 clean sheets for the Kickers, the only 2 shutouts the Kickers were able to muster in 2018. He had a 2.13 goals allowed average, which was better than the 2.53 GAA the Kickers had in the matches where Worra didn’t feature.
While he had a couple of times in the early part of the season where he was the backup goalkeeper due to injuries to David Ousted and Steve Clark, he moved into the backup role in August after the Black-and-Red acquired Bill Hamid and David Ousted underwent elbow surgery. Steve Clark was shipped out, and Worra moved up to the senior side to serve as Hamid’s backup for the remainder of the season. While he didn’t get any playing time, he was someone that fans knew could at least handle himself between the posts if Hamid was unavailable.
With Travis Worra out of contract, it’s possible he could be moving on to find a team that can give him a bump from his $68,900 2018 salary and a shot at competing for a starting role. In 4 seasons with United, he appeared 22 times and had 6 clean sheets. With the team acquiring Earl Edwards last week from Orlando City, Worra’s return will likely only be in the 3rd goalkeeper role. Still, he’s a player that fans are familiar with and he’s shown he can hang around on a roster while other keepers come and go.
So, with that in mind, we ask you: