Quechee
The soccer standout chose the Upper Valley, a decision he and his South Royalton teammates are both happy he made.
“I love it here,” Figueroa said after scoring four goals in the Royals’ 9-1 win over Mid Vermont Christian School on Tuesday in Quechee.
“You can make different things (happen) in another part of the world. I think that is really nice.”
Figueroa scored the game’s first goal at the six-minute mark by heading in a loose ball that bounced in front of the Eagles’ net. The next South Royalton goal came less than two minutes later, when Joshua Scoskie set up Nicholas Howe on a long right-to-left through ball.
Figueroa struck again at 18:20 by capitalizing on an MVCS misplay, and Dalton McDougall headed in a Figueroa corner kick a minute later to put the game effectively out of reach.
The Spanish striker, who hails from the northwest community of Galicia, said the Green Mountain State attracted him for multiple reasons.
“I heard Vermont is a really beautiful place to go, and I also ride horses,” he said. “So it’s perfect for me.”
It hasn’t taken long for his new surroundings to rub off positively on the 16-year-old lefty, a supporter of FC Barcelona back home.
Figueroa noted Americans play soccer only three months a year, compared to the 10 or 11 months he normally devotes to the sport, as the main difference between his American and Spanish soccer experiences.
The South Royalton newcomer has meshed well with Howe, a senior standout for the Royals. The two played with a sense of chemistry Tuesday that was surprisingly only a few weeks in the making.
“He and I work very well together up front,” said Howe, who also scored four goals Tuesday. “He’s probably the best player I’ve played with.”
Figueroa communicates well in English, but he didn’t have to say a lot to gain credibility with his new teammates, according to South Royalton coach Alex Montano.
The Royals’ third-year coach pointed to work ethic, creativity and unselfishness as Figueroa’s primary playing attributes.
“He’s not very vocal, but he shows (teammates) on the field what to do,” Montano said. “It’s definitely good to have a player of his caliber, but it’s also good to have him as an example.”
South Royalton improved to 3-2-0 after losing its first two games of the season. MVCS fell to 1-3-0, the Eagles’ lone victory coming over Chelsea in the season opener.
As a second-year varsity program, Mid Vermont is encountering some inevitable growing pains.
“We’re a young team, and we’re grinding it out each game and definitely getting better,” said Josh King, who scored the hosts’ only goal. “It’s definitely part of the process. We knew it would be tough stepping up to Division IV after being just a club team.”
King briefly sized up Tuesday’s opponent just before stepping off the pitch at the end of a long afternoon.
“(SoRo) is definitely bigger, stronger, faster,” he said. “And we just need to work on that.”
King scored on a header from Jake Roberts’ right-side corner kick to break up the South Royalton shutout just before halftime.
“It was obviously not the result we wanted, but we a good fight from our guys,” said Roberts, one of only two seniors on the Eagles. “Our defense collapsed a little too much, we didn’t move the ball and maybe forced it a little too much.”
Emblematic of their youth, the Eagles feature an eighth-grader, midfielder Evan Strobl.
MVCS coach Zach Bryan seemed slightly surprised by Tuesday’s one-sided contest.
“I figured it would be a tough game,” Bryan said. “We’re a young team new to varsity, but that score didn’t reflect our ability.”
The Eagles will get back to work Thursday at home against Trinity Baptist. There, Bryan will be looking for more signs of improvement as well as progress toward his overall goal.
“I want to be competitive with the middle chunk of Division IV,” he said. “Last year, we ended at the top of the bottom tier, so I’d like to be competitive with the middle teams.”