By Laura Amato
Former St. Francis Prep soccer star Kevin Garcia hopes, eventually, it will sink in that he’s made it to Major League Soccer.
Garcia got the call earlier this month—signing with the Houston Dynamo after a dominant season with Rio Grande Valley FC. But while he was thrilled with this latest opportunity, he’s the first to admit that he hasn’t really come to terms with being an MLS player quite yet.
It’s still all a bit overwhelming.
“I didn’t really have enough time to process the emotion because I had to be on a flight,” Garcia said. “I knew I was going to get brought up this year and I was just kind of wondering when I’d be taking the next step.”
Garcia appeared in 25 of 26 games with the Toros this season, serving as captain in the team’s debut year in the USL. He anchored the group’s defensive line, helping guide the expansion club to a league-record 760-minute shutout streak and giving up just one goal in a 10-game span.
It’s a season that has the Flushing native feeling pretty confident in what he brings to the field.
Now, he’s just hoping to continue the trend at the next level.
“You don’t want to break your stride when you’re feeling that confident,” Garcia said. “If you’re playing well and you’re comfortable and things are clicking for you, you’re going to do anything to make sure that you carry that momentum.”
Garcia’s call-up fills in some big-time defensive holes on the Dynamo’s back line. Houston boasted just four healthy defenders on its roster earlier this month and, after training with the Dynamo earlier this season, Garcia’s call-up simply made sense.
“I’ve been in and around the Houston Dynamo team all year—playing with the first team and traveling with them,” he said. “So we have a close relationship already and we knew that they were able to bring us in at any time they want.”
While he may not have had a spare moment to actually stop and think about his MLS future, this is the moment Garcia has been working towards since he first stepped onto the field at St. Francis Prep.
He led the Terriers to their first undefeated season and city championship during his high school career, anxious to follow in his older brother’s steps.
“I saw him play in the city championship and the state championship when he was a sophomore and I was in middle school,” Garcia said. “To be part of that group, that made it so far, it just drove me even more from the get-go.”
Garcia didn’t play in his first two games on the Dynamo’s roster, but he’s anxious to find a spot in the Houston gameplan sooner rather than later. In fact, after the season he’s put together on the field, Garcia is confident he can add a brand new dynamic to the Dynamo.
“I want to be able to contribute to the team on game day,” Garcia said. “That’s the goal—to be playing on game day and cementing my spot. So hopefully towards the end of the year, I can solidify some playing time with the first team.”
