Super utility role suits Garza
■ The senior captain has played all over the field for the Panthers.
Junior Garza is willing and able to play wherever the Siloam Springs boys soccer team needs him.
The senior captain has been spotted all over the field this year for the Panthers, starting the season in the goal while Jedi Hunter was still in basketball.
Garza was penciled in as a starter on the Panthers’ defensive back line, but the emergence of other personnel has allowed head coach Luke Shoemaker the flexibility to move Garza around.
“The guy’s kind of like a utility player in baseball in that he can play every position,” Shoemaker said of Garza. “Jason Bowen, when he coached here, he had a saying that he had for every kid. ‘Your position is soccer. You are a soccer player. All the roles can be interchangeable.’ (Garza) buys into that 100 percent.”
It’s a role and mindset that Garza has accepted.
“I feel like in soccer you don’t just play one position,” Garza said. “You play every position as a soccer player.”
As the Panthers (15-3) head into this week’s Class 5A state tournament at Siloam Springs, Garza will likely be seeing most of his minutes on the right wing in the midfield.
It’s a spot he’s been productive at with six goals scored and two assists on the season.
“It kind of morphed,” Shoemaker said of Garza’s position. “The plan was we were going to put him on the back line. Yanni (Trinidad) came along greater than we ever had expected, and kudos to him for that, and we thought we were solid there. We could use Junior’s speed in the attack, and I think you’ve seen in the last couple of weeks, Junior’s ended up putting balls in the back of the net.”
Shoemaker again mentioned Garza’s speed as being a factor.
“I mean he is so lightning fast on that line, and he understands when to play Franklin (Cortez) down the line, when he needs to run down the line,” Shoemaker
I feel like in soccer you don’t just play one position. You play every position as a soccer player.” — Junior Garza, captain, Siloam Springs boys soccer team
said. “And the kid’s so coachable, he’s gotten so much better at his runs from a winger position that I expect state tournament time he’s going to produce in some way for us.”
The Panthers earned the No. 3 seed from the 5A-West Conference after a close battle all season with Russellville and Van Buren. They’ll face South No. 2 seed El Dorado at noon on Thursday in Panther Stadium.
Siloam Springs lost a 1-0 decision at home to Van Buren last Friday with the No. 1 seed on the line. Van Buren took the No. 1 seed with Russellville claiming the second spot.
But the last time Siloam Springs played in the state tournament in 2019, the Panthers