Adriana Lucar: The Peruvian powerhouse

by SAVANNAH LEE asst. photographer

Leaving home and going away to college is a difficult transition for most college freshmen. But leaving home and heading off to college in a foreign country at the age of 18 is not only difficult, it’s a very gutsy thing to do.

Adriana Lucar grew up in Lima, Peru. When she was 6 years old she began playing soccer with her older brother and his friends. She became heavily involved in the game as she got older and played in high school and for the national U-17 and U-20 teams of Peru.

In Peru, women’s soccer is not offered at the college level. Lucar wanted to continue playing so during her senior year of high school she began looking into going to college here in the Unites States.

She said one of her friend’s mothers had a website that hosted various sports videos, so she recorded herself in a few games and posted the videos on the website.

Harding University’s women’s soccer coach Greg Harris heard about Lucar through a friend and watched the videos of her playing. “She’s a phenomenal player,” Harris said.“I said,‘You know, let’s see what we can do about bringing her in’.”

Harris began recruiting Lucar in October 2009. By the end of November she was committed to playing for Harding, and two weeks later she had finished her visa paper work. Lucar arrived at Harding in spring 2010.

“I think God has a way of working it out to where he brings people here that need to be here,”Harris said.

Moving to Harding was a big step for Lucar. She left her family and friends in Peru so she could continue playing soccer. Adriana left her home country in December during summer and traded her swimsuit for a snowsuit as it was snowing when she arrived in Arkansas. She didn’t know anyone or speak our language.

“It was just difficult,” Lucar said. “I thought it would be so easy to just come here and play, but the first two weeks here I just wanted to go home. I didn’t want to stay here.”

Harris said the girls on the team did a good job of getting Lucar involved and becoming a part of the team. He said Lauren Scharf took Lucar in and roomed with her.

“That was huge for us,” Harris said. “Lauren taking her in and deciding to room with Adriana was a big deal of us keeping Adriana here. She’s fun to have around, she’s very open, very honest and she’s a hard worker.”

Lucar said she is good with being at Harding now. She is able to talk with her family and friends through Skype and Facebook.

“I love soccer. I can’t live without it,” Lucar said.“That’s why I’m here, I’m here in the USA, you know, far away from my family and friends just because I really want to play soccer.” in games that were close in the first half. He has yet to be tested in a close game situation toward the end of games. LSU’s Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson have more primetime experience. They have both come up with some big plays in past seasons. The LSU defensive line will put the heat on McCarron and he will be tested in dealing with the pressure. We’ll just have to wait and see how well he will handle it.

The Alabama defense has proven itself this year. And although they are talented and fundamentally sound, they haven’t faced Les Miles. What happens when the “mad hatter” digs into his unsual bag of tricks like he did last year, calling the famous fourth-and-one reverse that helped LSU to victory? The Tide defense must be ready for a whole lot of the unexpected.

What could better illustrate the magnitude and hype of tomorrow’s game than the media coverage? Crimson

Tide officials anticipate approving approximately 600 media credentials for Saturday’s game. The press box at Bryant-Denny Stadium seats about 150 members of the media. Good luck with that. Ticket prices for the game are as much as $5,000 and celebrity ticket requests are out of control. Some people are saying that the road to this year’s national championship goes through Tuscaloosa. Can’t say I disagree with that. Some are even saying that if the game is a close one, there could be a rematch in the BCS game. We all know about the quarterback on the West Coast in Palo Alto who won’t let anything get in his way. Likewise for that guy in Boise. And there’s a team in Stillwater, Okla., that continues to score 50 points a game like it’s a walk in the park. The SEC champ down the road will likely be favored over any of them, regardless of how Saturday’s game plays out. But a fourth-quarter comeback or a last-second touchdown may say more about the winner than its previous eight blowouts. I’m taking LSU.

Why? Because Tyrann Mathieu scares me.

MARSHALL HUGHES is the sports editor for the 2011-2012 Bison. He may be contacted at jhughes3@harding.edu.