Everyone who sees Slammers forward Courtney Garcia play remembers her for her offensive skills, but her head coach, Ziad Khoury, is even more impressed by something else.

“The number one quality of Courtney is her work rate,” he said. “Offensively she’s a great left-footer, but she works her butt off. If you are an offensive player, it still matters what do you do defensively if you lose the ball. She’s one of those forwards who is great at tracking back. People see what she creates offensively, but she will work the whole game to track back because she knows it gives herself more chances to create offensively.

Her quality of striking and scoring great goals, her 1v1 skills and penetration are top notch, but right now more and more if you watch her you’ll see her defensive game. To be a top D1 player you have to have both, and she does.”

That is apparently what Ali Khosroshahin and the rest of the coaching staff at Southern Cal thought, for they pursued Garcia with vigor, landing her as a verbal commitment last November. Players at USC tend to fill a Dutch Total Voetbal concept, meaning players need to be ready to play multiple positions. Normally a left winger for Slammers, Garcia’s skill set and work rate suit her for many spots on the field.

Khoury believes versatility will be a plus for Garcia at the next level as well.

“What ever you ask her to do, she does,” he said. “She can play forward, halfback, center mid…. She’s a great fit for Ali and USC.”

The Southern California resident allows that USC has had the inside track on her loyalties for some time.

“I started getting letters from schools my freshman year, but I was always interested in USC. Since I was little that’s the one I wanted to go to,” she said. “I started contacting them a lot and they came out and saw me play. Then I went to their camp and later they told me they wanted me to come, so I committed in November.”

Garcia, who also visited Cal-Berkeley,  also looks forward to playing again with her high school teammate Jamie Petrossi, who she credits with making her feel welcome during her visits to the USC campus.

Garcia’s Slammers team has a month off now as they prepare for the Surf Cup and the fall Coast Soccer League season, having not qualified for U.S. Youth Soccer’s Region IV Championships. She said she continues to work to improve.

“I like having that comfort there (of knowing where she’ll go school). But I know I can’t relax and I still have to work,” she said. “If I take it easy, then when I go into college camp next year it will be tough. I work out every day at the gym and to keep up my skills because I don’t want to fall behind.”

Skill training for Garcia includes personal time at the park where she juggles, practices shooting or going 1v1 against friends, at least 3 days a week. She also practices ply metrics with her father to build strength and speed and participates in sprint events in track and field.

Garcia acknowledged that her work on the defensive side of the ball was not always a strong point.

“That’s one thing I used to be weak at so I’ve worked at it a lot,” she said. “Mainly it’s having a good work ethic. If I’m having a bad game or my touch is off I can still help the team by working hard.”

Helping her team win is a big priority for Garcia, who said the team has extra motivation to perform well in its U18 season.

“We were really disappointed after what happened this year,” she said. “Our team will be fired up to make sure we win it this coming year. “

Another goal for Garcia is to crack the lineup of a youth national team, which she somewhat surprisingly hasn’t done. Her goals go onward and upward from there.

“I would like to make the national team for my age group eventually. I’ve done everything up to that point,” she said. “I’m very interested in (WPS, the new professional league). I never want to finish playing soccer, so if I could do that someday it would be great.”

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