A Look Back At Harrison’s Girls Soccer Captain Karina Torres

This year the Harrison soccer team had a squad filled with inexperienced young players. However, thanks to the leadership and determination of upperclassmen like Karina Torres, the Huskies were able to have one of there most successful seasons ever.

Torres was one of the team’s captains and she and the Huskies made it to the semi–finals in sectionals for the first time in eighteen years. Harrison never could have gone on the run they did had it not been for the unselfish nature of several of the upperclassmen who switched positions for the betterment of the team. Torres and others sacrificed personal statistics and scoring opportunities to help the team win.

“I feel that I did not perform as well as I did my junior season since I scored twelve goals my junior year," said Torres on her senior year. “However, I was only a forward throughout my junior season and so I got many more scoring opportunities whereas in my senior season I was more of a center midfielder.”

Torres’s versatility was a huge weapon for Jon-Erik Zappala and the Harrison coaching staff. In her senior year she was used at forward, center midfield and both left and right back depending on how the opposition matched up. Even without a multitude of scoring opportunities, Torres still fired in two goals and assisted on several others. In her senior year she was also called on several times to line up for penalty kicks, where she was often times successful.

“She is a striker but I played her more as a center midfielder. I put her there because she is very skilled, confident, strong and can shoot well from the outside," said Coach Zappala. “She has a cannon of a shot and I know she wishes she scored more. Scoring is not everything and she kept us in many games.”

While her individual statistics took a hit in her final year at Harrison, Torres made a lasting impact on the program as a great leader. With so many younger athletes on the team it was often Torres’s responsibility to channel the team’s emotions into a big moment or pick up the team after a tough one.

In her senior season she led vocally as well as by example and took it upon her self to make sure the team was close off the field in hopes that it would bring the squad closer on the field.

“She is a team player and when things get bad she is the first one to say ‘keep your head up’ or ‘it’s not over,’” said one of the team’s goal keepers Jackie Fonseca. “She is always determined to win.”

“She was a captain who got everyone together for warm-ups, calmed them down and pumped the Huskies up during stressful times, kept morale and camaraderie strong,” Coach Zappala said.

“She was crucial in shootouts and her calm demeanor mixed with knowledge of the game helped us get past Eastchester and into the final four. She did this by playing aggressively and scoring a crucial penalty kick in overtime.”

Torres considers the Eastchester game to be her most exciting moment as a high school athlete. In her junior year the Huskies fell to Eastchester 5-0, but in her senior season Harrison came away with a thrilling victory after penalty kicks.

Torres put it simply: “It felt amazing to win that game.”

Next year the avid soccer player will be putting away her soccer cleats so she can focus on the academic side of college at SUNY Cortland. However, she does intend on trying out for the team before her sophomore year.

Best of luck and continued success to Karina Torres, Harrison Patch’s Athlete of the Week.