“Whatever is going on in school, it doesn’t matter. Personal stuff just doesn’t matter as soon as I step on the field. For those 90 minutes, I’m free and nobody can say anything to me.”
Juan Luna (Mount Jackson, Va./Stonewall Jackson) is a junior transfer who has proven to be a great asset to the men’s soccer team. Dependable, dedicated and hardworking, Luna consistently shows passion for the game. His performance last week in games against Wesley and in a win over ODAC preseason favorite, Roanoke, earns him recognition as this week’s Royals Athlete of the Week.
“We hadn’t scored since Ferrum I believe, our last win. I was in a scoring slump as well,” he recalled. “It puts a lot of pressure on me because every game my team is like, ‘Okay Juan, you have to cash some checks tonight.’ But I feel like that first goal against Wesley really opened the gates, and we’re just flowing with it now.”
Against Wesley College on Sept. 29, Luna scored EMU’s first goal in four games. Although the match resulted in a 4-1 loss, they would achieve a great win to make up for it. Three days later the men played Roanoke, last year’s conference regular season champions. Luna scored in the 40th minute against the Maroons, putting them up 1-0 and sealing the win for the team.
He noted that Roanoke hadn’t had an ODAC loss since 2013, which made the win even sweeter.
“It felt really nice (beating Roanoke) although the weather was horrible,” Luna said. “We have a really young team, about half of them are freshmen. There’s no substitute for experience, so every game we get a little bit better, and that’s the only thing we ask. Everyone is clicking, and during the Roanoke game we all put the pieces together and finally got a good result.”
Luna lived in the city of Moroléon in Guanajuato, Mexico, until he was seven years old. With a father who was a former professional soccer player, Juan learned his skills at a young age.
“He filled my brain with soccer since I was little,” Juan said. “When I was a baby, the first thing my dad gave me was a soccer ball. He was definitely a big influence. When I was in Mexico, my dad put me in soccer academies, so I’ve grown up with it. It has always been around me.”
Luna played for an academy called Morelia, a common experience for Mexican youth.
“Here in the States soccer is nothing compared to what it is in Mexico,” he pointed out. “In Mexico, all they do is eat, breath, and sleep soccer. Here, soccer is a big part of the culture, but it’s nothing compared to Mexico. Regular kids, well, pretty much every kid that’s there goes to school, and as soon as they get out, they go to the soccer academy. They go home, do homework, sleep, and start the cycle again.”
His commitment has paid off. Utilizing a high IQ of the game, he’s developed strong skills as a playmaker.
“What I like about my play is I can find the gaps between people, which people normally wouldn’t see,” Luna said. “I can foresee a play that’s going to build up without the play even being there. I can visualize it and that’s what really helps me to spread the ball and find other teammates.”
Despite his love of soccer, it was not always his only sport. Luna started playing football his freshman year of high school. He eventually attended D-I James Madison University and was a kicker for the JMU football team.
Luna describes transferring to Eastern Mennonite as being one of the best decisions he has made. “I like the community here more than at JMU,” Luna explained. “Everyone here knows you and you’re not just another number.”
Luna, a Spanish major who is contemplating a career in law enforcement, also says he appreciates the availability of professors, especially coming from a larger school where he experienced bigger classes and less interaction with professors.
Academics are just as important to Luna as soccer is: his three goals for this academic year are raising his GPA, scoring 10 goals before the end of the season, and continuing to work hard in practice and games.