As the men's soccer team takes the pitch each game, their captain, junior Max Garcia, will lead the team's game plan for success.
Garcia leads the team with five goals thus far this season; no other player has more than one. While Garcia may be lethal with his leg, he'd be quick to say that teamwork is far more important than him scoring all the goals.
"I think to me, my best characteristic is always striving for the best," Garcia said. "I try not always thinking about myself, but for the benefit of the team. It's not about me, it's about the team and if I believe in my teammates they're going to make me look good."
Garcia knows belief in his teammates will allow them to re- turn the favor. Especially when he's out on the field attacking de- fenders, something Garcia feels he does very well. This allows Garcia to advance the ball knowing his teammates are right behind him.
"I like getting the ball," Garcia said. "I like always having it at my feet and just going at people. If someone wanted me to go at them, I'll go at them, that's how I am. When my teammates see me they know that I'll go at the defender, so they'll back me up and come with me."
Although Garcia is no stranger to going after defenders while trying to put the ball in the net, he will admit that he can get better. Being a right footed player, Garcia tends to favor going to his right side, so to fool opposing teams and coaches he knows he has to get that left foot up to caliber with his right one.
"I would say that my biggest weakness would be my left foot," Garcia said. "I'm strictly a righty. So teams already know that I'm going to try and go to my right."
In his junior season, Garcia has already equaled his goals scored (five) and points scored (11) from last season, but he is not satisfied.
"Even though I already have my stats equal of last year's, I feel like I could still do a lot more," Garcia said. "It's just a matter of sometimes I try to do too much, so sometimes I put too much pressure on myself. And there's other times I should be thinking a little more about the team, instead of trying to do it all by myself. I feel like so far I've had like an OK season."
Dennis Chambers can be reached at Dennis.chambers@ student.shu.edu
