‘‘I just want to go for it.”
That’s how Walter Johnson —actually, former Walter Johnson — senior Lucas Szabo describes his ambition to play soccer for a living. One look at his résumé is all it takes to see he’s already on the go.
Szabo already had a pretty impressive prep career before the New Year began. The dangerous striker had led the Wildcats with double-digit goals in his each of his final three seasons, was twice an All-Gazette first-team performer (including the 2006 Player of the Year), and led WJ to a 2006 state championship with game-winning goals in three straight playoff games. For his club team, the MSC Dragons, he’s started for four State Cup-winning squads. And he’s already earned a scholarship to play in college at NCAA Division I Marist College (N.Y.).
But what he’s done in the last three months shows commitment beyond your normal high school standout. Because he had enough credits, Szabo graduated from Walter Johnson after the fall semester of his senior year, and played for three different Under-20 youth soccer teams in Brazil from January to mid-April. He returned on April 10 — two days later, he scored a goal and logged three assists in MSC’s 7-0 victory over the Baltimore Bays to reach the State Cup quarterfinals, and has immediately begun practicing with the United Soccer League, Second Division Real Maryland on their U-20 squad.
It’s not an understatement to say that soccer is his life.
‘‘He has a passion for the game beyond all others,” said WJ head coach Mike Williams, who coached Szabo for three years. ‘‘You may see some good players, but you don’t always see guys with a passion to be the best in their particular sport, and he’s one of those rare kids. I make no bones about it, he and I have spoken about it, that he has the ability, discipline and the character to play professional soccer.”
While the training he received during his stay in Brazil opened his eyes to a pro future, it wasn’t something he planned. Graduating early was not a soccer-related decision, more so a coincidence. The opportunity arose when former head of Maryland State Youth Soccer Association Graham Ramsey set him up with the contacts to play with the first soccer club he trained with, Brasilis F.C. in Águas de Lindóia, Brazil. Though Szabo didn’t speak Portuguese, he has an uncle that lives in San Paolo, and decided the time was right to get international experience before college. For the first month of his stay, he boarded with Brasilis F.C. at the club’s Athlete Development Academy, where he trained two times per day, six days per week.
Interestingly, he met up with a familiar face. His former teammate and a senior starter on WJ’s 2006 state title-winning team, midfielder Brian Urioste, had coincidentally also been training with Brasilis F.C. Urioste had been in South America since October, playing in Bolivia before joining Brasilis. Though he and Szabo had maintained communication, they didn’t expect to reconnect on the same club.
They’ve followed each other ever since. By February, they were both invited to play on the more competitive Clube de Regatas do Flamengo U-20 team, better known as Flamengo, in Rio de Janeiro. After roughly a month, they played for one more Brazilian club, Portugesa, before heading back to the states. They play together on Real Maryland’s U-20 team, coached by Urioste’s former Juventus club coach, Roger Fernandez.
‘‘I played for him, and he saw [Lucas and I] play the year we won states,” said Urioste, who has verbally committed to play at Campbell University (N.C.) next fall. ‘‘He invited me to come to his new club team when I came back. I told him about Lucas, and he remembered him.”
But more important than reuniting with an old friend and teammate, and learning to speak Portuguese — ‘‘I’m not perfect,” as Szabo put it, ‘‘but I can hold a conversation,” — were the actual soccer skills he was able to improve. Szabo said the fancy football Brazilian soccer is known for was apparent immediately, where the game is more about tactical skill than the physically inclined American style. He also says his on-field vision is drastically superior than before his trip, as is his ability to one-touch the ball.
His longtime club soccer head coach, Julio Zarate, also noticed the improvements. The Dragons, ranked No. 1 in the state by nationalsoccerranking.com, have talent all over their roster. Zarate said that 21 of his 22 players have college scholarships, but he also says that Szabo is one of the best on the team.
‘‘No question — he is one of those guys that could play in MLS [Major League Soccer] or on the National Team, I’m telling you,” said Zarate, who has coached the Dragons since 1999. ‘‘He’s also a much better player than when he left for Brazil. He actually got quicker and his train of thought is faster.
‘‘When he came back to us, one of the things he mentioned right away was that the touch of the ball they have in Brazil was crazy, like ping pong sometimes, and the way they hold the ball is different. You could see in the State Cup game that he does both of those things very smart.”
With nearly four months until he travels up to New York to join the Red Foxes or Marist, Szabo has nothing but soccer to worry about. He’ll simultaneously practice with MSC and Real Maryland through the spring and summer months. He’s already thinking about next summer — Marist assistant coach Bobby Van Dyke played semi-professional soccer in Italy during the mid-1990s, and Szabo hopes maybe that connection could parlay him an opportunity overseas once again.
It’s as if nothing else in the world matters.
‘‘Right now, I just want to be as prepared as possible,” he said. ‘‘Basically, I want to do the best I can my first year. ... Brazil really prepared me, because I got to see soccer at the highest level, and I definitely want to be play professionally someday.”
