Diego Garcia has faced some major challenges this fall in his freshman campaign with the Princeton Day School boys’ soccer team.

“It is a pretty hard level, facing kids way bigger and older than me,” said Garcia. “I am really just glad to be having some time on the field.”

Last week, Garcia made the most of his time on the field as the Panthers went across town to play at Hun. Garcia chipped in a first half goal as PDS pulled out a 2-1 win over the Raiders in the September 30 contest.

While Garcia acknowledged his goal wasn’t a thing of beauty, he conceded that sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

“It was a cross and it got deflected by the defense and went in,” said Garcia with a sheepish grin, reflecting on his second tally of the fall.

In the win over Hun, things got a little dicey for PDS as the Raiders tied the game at 1-1 early in the second half before Panther senior star Marco Pinheiro blasted a volley into the back of the net to provide the margin of victory.

“We had most of the control in the first half,” said Garcia. “It was in the beginning of the second half when we gave up control for a few minutes. After that, we played pretty well.”

It felt pretty good for Garcia and his teammates to post a win over Hun.

“They are known as an athletic school,” said Garcia. “It is a pretty good thing knowing that you can beat the close rival.”

Getting off to a 6-3-1 start, the Panthers have displayed some pretty good soccer.

“As coach [Malcolm Murphy] says, we are the best soccer playing team in most games,” said Garcia of the squad, which topped Foundation Academy 6-0 last Monday and hosts the Hill School (Pa.) on October 8 and Hamilton on October 10.

“I think we have to concentrate on finishing because if we get that down, we are going to be a much better team than we already are.”

Learning from his older teammates, Garcia feels he is getting better and better as the season goes on.

“They are really supportive; if I am not doing something right, they all come up to me and say what I am doing wrong as a player,” said Garcia.

“I am just trying to do my best. As the season goes on, I am getting more comfortable and eventually I am getting better.”