MELBOURNE, Fla. – As the Florida Tech women's soccer team heads into their Senior Night matchup with Tampa tonight, goalkeeper Maria "Lola" Sanchez Recuero has firmly entrenched herself among the greatest to ever put on the gloves for the Crimson and Gray.

She currently ranks second all-time among Florida Tech keepers in career saves with 272, just seven shy of the program record, and her 24 career wins and 20 career clean sheets each rank third.  

To hear Lola tell it though, none of this was ever supposed to happen, at least not the way that it ultimately did.

Everyone has a story about when and how they fell in love with the sport that they play. In Sanchez Recuero's case, she could not have had a better time growing into the game.

As the late 2000s became the early 2010s, Spain truly ruled the world when it came to world football. The national team won the 2008 and 2012 European championships while taking the 2010 World Cup in between, captivating the globe in the process with their Tiki-Taka passing-based game. At the club level, the iconic rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona reached its peak, featuring some of the greatest players to have ever played the game such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, and Karim Benzema.  

Growing up in Madrid as the youngest of four children in a soccer-loving family, Sanchez Recuero says the responsibility of being in goal fell on her, even though it wasn't necessarily her first choice. Even then, she could look up to the likes of the legendary Iker Casillas and Victor Valdes. It certainly doesn't hurt to have Manchester United keeper David deGea as a family friend, either.

Sanchez Recuero spent her sophomore year of high school at Saint Joseph Academy in Saint Augustine, but she didn't necessarily see that as some sign of destiny at the time.

"In Spain, it's super common to do a year abroad during high school. That's when I learned about the opportunity of playing sports in college, which is awesome," says Sanchez Recuero.

While she enjoyed her initial time in Florida, it can still be quite a lot for someone at that age to make the immediate decision on where they want to spend the next several years of their life. So, Lola returned to the Spanish capital for her junior year of high school but almost immediately, her heart was set on wanting to be stateside again. Her senior year saw her back at Saint Joseph where another twist of fate would help lead her to Melbourne.

"It's actually a pretty funny story. I didn't do anything to get recruited or anything at all and women's soccer players typically get recruited during their junior year. And it was about February my senior year, I went to practice, and my coach was like 'Do you have a college yet?' and I was like, 'No, I don't," says Sanchez Recuero. "Then he said 'Well, I know the coach down at Florida Tech if you want to go for a tryout tomorrow' and I was like 'Cool!'. So, I came here, loved the team, loved the place, loved everything. This was the only school that I applied to and it worked out pretty great."

After beginning her Panther career as a walk-on, Lola has been the starter in goal for each of the past four fall seasons, having twice been named to the All-Sunshine State Conference team for her performance. Last fall, Lola forged her name into the discussion of greatest Panther keepers ever with a season for the ages.

Tech entered the 2021 season having been picked to finish ninth in the SSC Preseason Poll after having finished bottom of the league in 2019. Thanks in part to some new blood and the organization instilled by new coach Ryan Moon, the Panthers went on to reach the SSC Tournament Final and the National Quarterfinal. Sanchez contributed to an incredibly stout back line by finishing seventh in the nation in goals against average (.496), eighth in save percentage (.879), 10th in minutes played (1,995) and 13th with 10 clean sheets, tying Julia Kantor's program record in the process.

Sanchez Recuero's performance saw her earn D2CCA All-South Region Second Team, United Soccer Coaches All-South Region Second Team, All-SSC First Team, and SSC All-Tournament Team honors.

Lola shone brightest in the biggest moments. She made several key saves in the second half of their SSC Quarterfinal victory against Nova Southeastern. In each of the Panthers' four NCAA Tournament games, Sanchez Recuero made at least one save during the penalty shootout, including two in their second-round upset of previously unbeaten Lee.

It takes a true combination of factors for a team to make the kind of leap that Florida Tech did in 2021 but Moon believes that Lola's abilities in goal as well as her ability to instill confidence throughout the team were a big reason for the Panthers' rapid emergence as contenders.

"We put our trust in her to lead us and take that role last year and she stepped into it," says Florida Tech's second-year gaffer. "We had a pretty new back four last year and I think the trust was there for them, which is important. I played as a center back myself and for me, it was always important to trust the person behind me that if they got through us, then we knew that they were going to bail us out. I think our defense last year and continuing into this year trust her, which is really important." 

Tech Assistant Coach Brooke Bradley, herself a goalkeeper at the University of North Texas, points out that part of Lola's strength isn't just the saves she makes when called into action but in preventing the need to make them.

"She's shifting our back line to where we're in the right position to where our back line can block the shot instead of her actually having to block the shot," says Bradley. "So, that's something that she brings as well is that communication with our back line, pulling back a midfielder, things like that. Maybe she's pulling Marem (Ndiongue) back on a corner or set piece to try and get everything organized, to where she doesn't have to make the save. It's our team in front of her that's making that save."
 
Sanchez Recuero has followed that up with an equally impressive 2022 campaign. Having started 12 of 13 games, she's posted an .818 save percentage, five wins, and three clean sheets as the Panthers remain firmly in the hunt for another NCAA Tournament appearance.

Lola has the respect of her teammates and coaches alike with senior defender JoJo Michaels sharing one of the closest bonds.

"I feel like a lot of people say it, but I genuinely mean it when I say Lola has become family. She helped me go from someone who didn't know if they had the skill to play the sport to being by my side every step of the way in getting my confidence back," says Michaels. "She introduced me to everyone when I first transferred in (from UCF) and welcomed me with open arms. Off the field, Lola has always been a call away. She's helped me through some pretty tough times these past few years. Even though I've only known her for three years I feel like I've known her my whole life."

As the prospect of someone else besides #13 in goal grows closer, Moon considers himself lucky to have been able to have had someone of Sanchez Recuero's caliber to work with and in doing so, setting the standard for future Panther keepers.

"I think not just the fact that she's been here but through her actions as well. I wish (her eligibility) didn't run out because the passion she has for the program, for the team, is just second to none," he said. "When you can rely on a person like that to bring that mentality and demand excellence from her teammates and want to help, want to promote, invested solely, it's a very refreshing character to have on the team as a coach."
For Lola, the sport of soccer will always be a part of her life, wherever it takes her next.

"I really like what I study. I'm doing my master's in civil engineering with a focus on water resources," she says. "If that allows me to coach, I would love it. I think I'm going to coach my kids. My kids will be born with a soccer ball as well. I want to be able to visit all the national parks. I love living in Melbourne and a beach town for a couple of years but kind of want to get back to that city structure and I also want to pick up snowboarding, so Denver just seems like the ideal place to do all those. I'm in the process of interviewing and it looks pretty good. So hopefully I can be there in January."

And to think, all of this started from a trip to Saint Augustine.