Ayloni Garcia recalls her Mission High girls soccer head coach William Proctor tell her that he had scored 25 goals once in a season during high school.
The freshman then went out and scored 26 herself this season.
“Of course I had to beat that,” Garcia said. “That was my challenge.”
Her scoring output not only led the team but also vaulted her to being named The Monitor’s All-Area Girls Soccer Newcomer of the Year.
“We could count on her every single game,” said Proctor, who has been a coach in Mission CSID for the past six years and is on his second run with the Mission girls, coaching them for three years this time around after an earlier six-year stint. “I went to see some of her junior high games as a seventh grader. She was a very good player. I couldn’t wait to get her in high school.”
Garcia made her impact felt early and often with the Eagles. Her season highlight came in a District 30-6A matchup against PSJA North that, ultimately, the Eagles won 5-4. Mission trailed at halftime, 2-0 but in the second they had the wind to their back.
Mission tied it then took a 4-3 lead, three of those goals coming from Garcia. Then PSJA North tied it at 4 late in the match.
Garcia refused to let the match end that way.
“She put the team on her back,” Proctor said. “Right after they scored the fourth goal she took the ball and scored the game-winner.”
“I just blocked everyone out of my mind and it was just me and the keeper,” Garcia said. “I went to the far post, straight to the corner.”
Garcia said she wanted to actually score 30 goals for the season. The COVID-19 pandemic put a strain on that, ending the regular season one game short, and ending her shot at the 30-goal mark.
The freshman phenom doesn’t come across dominant if one sizes her up by height alone. One of her nicknames at home is shorty, but maybe that’s also what makes her so very good, not letting that stature get in the way but being led by drive and determination. She’s more than just sound technically, knows the sport — she just turned 15 in April and has been playing for 11 years — and, according to Proctor, has a work ethic that’s second to none.
“She didn’t have much trouble with anyone,” Proctor said. “Skill-wise, they were trying to keep up with her so she rarely got pushed around. Sometimes she got knocked down but it wasn’t anything where they were pushing her around. When she had the ball more than likely they were just trying to take it away from her and they had trouble doing that.”
Garcia said the only injury she sustained was when she fell on her wrist.
“I just got it wrapped up and went back out there,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I had to get back to the game.”
Garcia, who has a 7-year-old brother, comes from a sports-oriented family. Her mom played high school basketball and she has several cousins and other family members who played or are playing sports now.
Her dad races dragsters, and Garcia is a junior dragster herself, having eclipsed 100 miles per hour behind the wheel. They can be both found at the Edinburg dragstrip at times competing.
“Its good knowing that I have another talent, for racing, just like my dad,” she said. “When I hit 100 my dad freaked out the first time.”
Proctor said having a talent like Garcia on a team — especially as a freshman — not only means three more years of watching her grow and get stronger and more dominant, but it’s also a great way to raise the bar when it comes to the entire team.
“All athletes want to be good and a lot of times girls may like a sport and having someone like that who sets the bar where the top athletes can gauge it and see it right in front of them,” Proctor said. “Sometimes they don’t see it every day because there isn’t someone in front of them every day to show what it takes. We’re gonna try to do everything we can to get the most out of her. She’s a heck of an athlete.”