Penalty Shot

An immigrant student in North Carolina discovers that becoming the first in his family to attend college is no easy goal.

By Lucy Hood

On a Saturday afternoon, with graduation a week away, Smithfield-Selma High School senior Eusebio Montoya was playing midfield center for the Triangle Futbol Club in the state championship semifinals. It costs nearly $2,000 in fees and expenses to play on the club soccer team, but Eusebio—“Sabs” to most everyone he knows in his adopted home of Johnston County, North Carolina—had scraped the money together to broaden his exposure to college-level coaches scouting for talent.

Sabs looked confident as he darted from one end of the field to another that Saturday in late May, deftly maneuvering the ball. At 5 feet 6 inches tall and 130 pounds, he’s small compared with other players, and at first glance coaches worry that taller kids will overpower him. But he compensates with speed, a keen ability to read the field, and a knack for dodging situations where bigger players can push him off the ball. “I’m actually stronger than I look,” Sabs said later. “I know how to use my body.”

Hoping to become the first in his family to get a college degree, Sabs also knew that this particular game was pivotal. Two coaches from Campbell University, a nearby Division I school, and an assistant coach from a Division II school in Florida were watching him play. Also on the sidelines was Chris Embler, his friend, mentor, and high school soccer coach, who’d driven nearly two hours to...