Garcia comes to Terriers' rescue – Two saves in penalty kicks gives SFP city title

Kevin Garcia is only a junior, but he is already the unquestioned leader of the St. Francis Prep soccer team. He has switched positions, leaving the glory of striker for the valuable yet overlooked spot of sweeper, the last man before the goalkeeper.
But in the Terriers' last two playoff games he moved even further back - into goal - at the most pressurized moment, penalty kicks.
And as he did in the semifinal win over Molloy, Garcia came up aces for St. Francis Prep, turning away a pair of Fordham Prep (12-2-1) shooters to give the Terriers the 4-2 edge in the shootout and their second Catholic League Class A city championship in four years and third overall.
&#8220It's a great feeling,” he said after the 2-1 win over the Rams at St. John's University's Belson Stadium. &#8220I doubted I would be able to do it again, but I proved everybody wrong. I just can't describe this feeling. It's just fantastic.”
Initially, Garcia, a goalie growing up but not for quite some time, lobbied his way into net against Molloy. But after his superb performance got the Terriers (14-0-6) into the final, St. Francis Prep Coach Franco Purificato had no doubt where he would go if the game were extended into penalty kicks.
For a while, it seemed like an emergency goaltender would not be needed. Tommy Garafola's second goal of the postseason in the 43rd minute stood up until late in the second half when Fordham Prep's Michael Mazzullo headed in a corner kick just 17 minutes before full time.
The Terriers, who will play in the CHSAA state semifinals Friday at Fordham University, had many opportunities to go back ahead, but Garafola hit the crossbar and Dennis Bravo banged one off the near post in overtime.
The shootout started with high drama. The first two Terriers to shoot were given a second chance after it was ruled Fordham Prep goalkeeper Ryan Meara had moved forward. A goalie is only allowed to move laterally on a penalty kick. &#8220It looked good to me,” Fordham Prep Coach Peter McNamara said. &#8220That's all I can say.”
Purificato then pulled his starter, Joe Iemma, in favor of Garcia. &#8220It didn't look like Joe was going to get one of them, so I put him (Garcia) in,” he said. &#8220I was thinking about it the whole game. I said if we go to PK's, I'm putting Kevin in.”
After his first save, a dive to the left on Brendan Cullinan, Garcia was forced to redo it because the official again ruled a goalie had jumped off his line. &#8220I've never seen three kicks re-taken in penalty kicks,” McNamara said.
No harm done. Garcia made two consecutive saves; first catching a miss hit grounder down the middle by Cullinan and then knocking away Mazzullo's laser into the top left corner.
&#8220I love that kid, I love him,” captain Eric Vasquez said. &#8220Twice is unbelievable. I knew he could pull it off. He's Kevin Garcia. We were confident. We were telling ourselves in the huddle, ‘Kevin's got this.' And he did, he came through [in the] clutch.”
Garcia is the second of his family to help Purificato win a title. His older brother, George, now playing for George Washington, was a center midfielder for Purificato on the '03 Cinderella team that won a city and a state title after a sub-par regular season. The younger Garcia, meanwhile, is the backbone of this team, an undefeated dynamo that is setting school records as they go - first to ever finish a regular season undefeated and win the Brooklyn/Queens division.
Garcia played forward some last year, and even a little this year until moving to fullback. &#8220Once I got him back there, we stopped giving up goals whatsoever,” Purificato said. &#8220So I said, ‘you know what, you're staying back there.' ”
When asked of the move, Garcia said, &#8220It was tough.” He then stopped himself, adding, &#8220Whatever helps the team, if he [Purificato] tells me to go in the back, play goalie, play right midfield, left midfield, forward, I don't care. Whatever helps the team.”
&#8220He's becoming a leader,” the coach acknowledged, &#8220definitely. He's getting there.”
As leaders so often do, Garcia, despite the position change, remained in the spotlight. His star couldn't have shone brighter on the biggest stage.