Daniel Lopez
When the 2021 high school soccer season began, it became apparent that the LaFayette Ramblers were going to be a bit on the youthful side.
The Orange-and-Black opened with a preseason scrimmage against Chattooga with a slew of underclassmen and just one senior on the roster, meaning the team was going to need some newer names and faces to step up to provide leadership, both on and off the field.
And of those that did was Daniel Lopez.
The junior finished the year by leading the Ramblers and all of Walker County’s GHSA spring-playing boys’ soccer teams in both goals (9) and assists (7) and helped LaFayette to a No. 3 seed in the state playoffs.
Today, Lopez is being honored as the Walker County Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year for the 2021 season.
“I’m kind of surprised,” the soft-spoken Lopez stated. “I wasn’t expecting to get it. There’s a lot of good people on the team and I’m just surprised because came out of nowhere.”
LaFayette not only ended the year 7-5-1, but they went 6-2 in a brand-new Region (6-AAA), with the only losses coming against a strong North Murray squad that finished as region runnerup and 6-AAA champion Coahulla Creek, who went on to win the state title.
Lopez had just started to establish himself as a goal-scorer
in 2020. LaFayette began the season with a 3-1 mark and Lopez played in a big part in that, including scoring the game-winning goal on a header with four minutes left as the Ramblers beat Trion, 3-2.
Coronavirus would abruptly end his sophomore season soon afterward, but Lopez would coming storming out of the gates in 2021. He knocked in five goals in the
scrimmage win over Chattooga and came up with plenty of big moments once LaFayette got into the region portion of the schedule.
He netted two crucial goals in an early 3-2 win over LFO and scored the only goal of the match during the first 10-minute overtime session in a 1-0 victory over Ringgold. He also assisted on
the lone goal of a 1-0 win at Murray County. The tally came with six minutes left in regulation and sealed a state tournament berth for the Ramblers back on March 15.
He went on to put up a three-goal
hat trick in a 9-0 win over Rockmart and scored the Ramblers’ only goal in playoff road loss to Cherokee Bluff in the opening round.
“I think we had a really good season and I think I improved a lot,” said Lopez, who trains with Chattanooga FC Academy in the offseason. “I’ve had a lot of time since last year to improve and
work on myself as a player and as a person on the field and to be able to communicate (better) with my teammates on the field. I think I did a lot better this year than I have previously.”
Somewhat surprisingly, Lopez pointed toward a loss as one of his most memorable moments of the season.
“The North Murray match,” he
explained. “We did lose that game at home, 2-1, but I think that was our best match all year long. Everybody on the team played their hearts out.”
With the vast majority of the team returning in 2022, and with what Lopez believes will be a few key additions, he said the Ramblers will be shooting for even bigger goals in his senior year.
“Next year, I want us to go a little bit deeper in the state (playoffs) and I want to get that region championship,” he added. “I think we can do it with the (freshmen) we have coming up, plus we have some guys who didn’t play last season that are going to play again (next spring). We should be set for next year and I think we can do a lot of big things.”