Natalia Garcia-Souffront had a great reason to miss the first couple of weeks of the Penn Girls Soccer season.
She was competing for the Honduras Under-17 National Team in the CONCACAF Games.
Garcia-Souffront transferred from a small school in Tallahassee, Fla., to Penn in August. She attended Florida State University Schools High School and played for her varsity soccer team from sixth to ninth grade.
A Sophomore, Garcia-Souffront wanted to play on the Honduras National team and decided to contact the coach to send game film so he could keep tabs on her. She eventually was able to attend a training camp and was called up to be a permanent member of the team as a center back/outside back.
¨My experience on the National team has had me trying to adjust to so many different things.¨ Garcia-Souffront said.
Garcia-Souffront had to learn how to travel by herself along with learning how to communicate and be a leader in different ways since she is not fluent in Spanish. From learning how to overcome those challenges and play on the team, she was able to learn different aspects of the game and understand the mental and physical toughness.
“Soon after her family moved here from Tallahassee, she was off to the Dominican Republic to compete for the Honduran U17 National Team in the CONCACAF Qualifiers.” Penn Girls Soccer Head Coach Jeff Hart said.
In the CONCACAF qualifiers, Honduras went 1-1-1 and came in third out of the four teams in Group D. Honduras is currently ranked 12th out of 41 teams in the u17 Women’s Championship rankings.
From going to play on her FSUS soccer team and Honduran team, Garcia-Souffront expressed how the transition affected her to move to Penn.
¨Since being on the National Team, I was good at making friends with my teammates and that was the easy part here at Penn,” Garcia-Souffront said. “The whole team is incredibly nice and very welcoming and I couldn’t have had a better transition.”
Garcia-Souffront explained how much she has enjoyed the people and coaches here at Penn. She has known everyone on the team for about only two months now, but she’s grateful for how supportive they are with her playing time on the national team and adjusting to playing here at Penn.
Getting to play multiple positions here at Penn during games Garcia-Souffront said has benefitted her game for the better and she enjoys the opportunity.
“(Garcia-Souffront) has fit in perfectly with our program and school,” Hart said. “On the field, she’s a versatile player that can be used in a number of positions and her speed and understanding of the game around her are huge assets that will benefit us going forward.”
