Garcia Lifts North Lake to Win in Final Home Game

KAT GARCIA HIGHLIGHTS & INTERVIEW

IRVING, Texas – Dallas College North Lake women's soccer team beat Dallas College Eastfield 2-1 Tuesday in the final regular season game of the year. 

Katherine Garcia scored two nifty goals for the Blazers, who picked up their first win of the season. The two goals were the most North Lake (1-8-5, 1-4-5 Dallas Athletic Conference) scored in a game all season. 

North Lake finished the season series with Eastfield at 1-0-1 after the two teams battled to a 1-1 draw in the first meeting. 

Garcia put the Blazers on the board in the 20th minute when she chased down a ball from Michelle Cisneros to the right of the goalie box, split two players, lunging forward with her right leg and tucked the ball into the short side with the Harvester Bees goalkeeper charging toward her. It was a play that summarized the first half, with North Lake controlling the attack. 

"That one, honestly, I wasn't thinking about anything," Garcia said. "I was just thinking about I've got to score, so I ran as fast as I could. I gave it my all. I knew she was coming. So at that moment, I just kicked it. I tried to kick right in the goal, and yeah it went in. I thought at first it didn't go in because I fell and tripped over, but I was super happy, knowing it went in." 

The Blazers had 10 of their 15 shots in the first half. 

Eastfield (1-13-1, 1-8-1) tied the game in the 33rd minute on a goal by Alessia Gonzalez after a failed North Lake clear. From outside the box, Gonzalez bended a high ball in off the Blazers' keeper's hands to knot the score. The score remained deadlocked at 1-1 through the remainder of the first half and almost halfway into the second. 

In the 64th minute, North Lake finally cracked the Harvester Bees' code again. Reese Burgess lofted a ball through the midfield into Eastfield's half of the field. Garcia ran it down, shielded off a defender and flipped the ball over the charging goalkeeper's head. Isolated as she got behind the last line, Garcia slid the ball into the net for the game winner. 

"That one, I was actually surprised," Garcia said. "I'm like, 'I'm not going to be able to move it because they were like right there.' There was another defender and the goalkeeper. I'm just going to try to get it over. I got it over, and I just shot it. I had an open space."

It was Garcia's first two goals of the season. 

Pressed into the goalkeeper's role for the second time this season, Daniela Fonseca (1-0-1) made three saves in the win. 

North Lake will meet Dallas College Cedar Valley 7 p.m. Friday in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III South District Tournament quarterfinals at Dallas College Brookhaven. The district tournament will be held Friday-Oct. 29.