High-scoring Garcia brothers boost South Mecklenburg soccer team to No. 5 ranking

South Mecklenburg boys’ soccer coach Eric White had a feeling his 2015 team would be special.

There are 14 seniors and six senior starters among his 23 players. Those seniors were 29-15 in White’s first two years as coach. And with Sabres stars Marco Garcia and Fernando Garcia returning, White knew he had the firepower to play with anyone in North Carolina.

Through the season’s first five games, South Mecklenburg is 5-0 and ranked No. 5 in the N.C. 4A coaches’ poll. Thursday night at home, the Sabres will face Hough (6-0-1), ranked No. 1 in the state poll. The game begins at 6 p.m.

“It’s a big match,” White said. “We play Hough each year and we always know it’s a challenge.”

Hough has shut out its past four opponents and allowed three goals all season. To keep that shutout streak alive, the Huskies know they must slow down South’s Garcia brothers. Led by the high-scoring strikers, South Meck has scored 27 goals in its past three games.

Marco Garcia, a senior, has a team-high nine goals and six assists, second on the team behind junior Reed Hunnicut, who has seven.

Fernando Garcia, a junior, has seven goals – second-most on the team – and three assists. Among his seven scores, Fernando has five off headers.

In an 11-0 win against Harding this week, each brother had three goals, and Ethan DeSilva added three assists.

“Marco is really quick and really technically skilled,” White said. “Fernando is much bigger and has got a lot of physicality, but he’s also very technical. Marco is more the creator. But Fernando has been maturing and just getting into his body and learning how good he can be. He’s definitely an all-state caliber player this year.”

White said the Garcias are aided by a well-balanced team. DeSilva has four goals, for instance, and Collyn Carpenter has three goals on five shots. Goalie Harish Amatya has 10 saves and a 1.3 goals-against average.

South Mecklenburg last made a state championship appearance in 1985, losing in the championship round. The Sabres won the 1971 state title. White said he believes he has a team in 2015 that could make a similar run.

“A lot of things have to go right,” he said. “You have to have luck, stay healthy and keep their heads on straight. The one thing I keep telling them is the only thing that can stop us is ourselves. So we don’t change our routine. We keep everything the same. ...

“We’ve got a good well-rounded team with creative players, like the Garcias, and guys who love to get assists and create goals. I like where we’re headed.”

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 4:53 PM with the headline "High-scoring Garcia brothers boost South Mecklenburg soccer team to No. 5 ranking."