After 15 years playing soccer, senior Stanton Garcia received a scholarship to Southern Methodist University and signed Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Stanton played varsity soccer for the school as a freshman, but had to discontinue playing high school sports his junior year to stay on his select team, the Academy League. Now he is a student assistant, but gets to practice with the school on occasion.

“The Academy League made a rule my junior year that we couldn’t play contact sports through the high school,” Stanton said, “because of an extension of their season to 10 months, and also to avoid injury.”

Stanton plays for the Andromeda U18 (under 18) Academy and played U16 as a freshman.

“My freshman year the Academy League became bigger and we could practice with them,” Stanton said. “I was already on the League and got scouted to the U16 team.”

His junior year Stanton visited SMU, which was his first college visit because of the proximity to McKinney. He committed to the university three days after his official visit the summer before his senior year.

“I met the coach and sent him my schedule, asking him to come watch me,” Stanton said. “They watched a couple times, were interested in me and offered me a scholarship.”

Stanton looks forward to the opportunity to play soccer in college.

“It’s been a dream of mine for a long time and I’m pumped.” Stanton said. “It’s also pretty cool because I’m the first person in my family to be a college athlete.”

Following college, Stanton hopes to continue playing at a professional level.

“Playing professional soccer is my dream.” Stanton said. “50 percent of SMU’s players go pro. That’s another reason I like SMU. They base their practices off professional ones.”

Stanton has aspired to play professional soccer since he began playing at age three.

“I stuck with it because I had a passion for it and I was pretty good at it.” Stanton said. “I like the fact that you can’t win as a player; you have to work as a team. And the feeling of scoring a goal is amazing.”

Written by Lexy Ludwig

Photo by Maddie Derryberry