By Megan Maharry
Sports Editor
Karla Lopez is a senior criminal justice major with a Spanish minor. She is finishing out her final college semesters as well as her last season as a Lady Ranger soccer player.
Lopez was born in Mexico City, Mexico before coming to the United States at age seven.
She and her family settled in Anaheim, California, which is about twenty miles from Los Angeles. At first, she said it was hard to adjust to the new, American way of life.
She began learning English in school, which was a challenge at first.
She eventually picked up on it and is now fluent in both English and Spanish.
Lopez began playing soccer when she was seven years old.
She played high school and club all the way until she started her colligate career at Cypress Community College.
After playing at Cypress for two years she found herself on a plane to Oklahoma to play for Northwestern Oklahoma State University.
“When I first got here my first reaction was my jaw dropped to the floor,” Lopez said. “I had never seen so much grass, dirt or cows.”
Despite the culture shock, Lopez settled in to her classes and the soccer team.
“I love that I get to spend time with great girls from different places,” Lopez said.
Lopez was the leading goal scorer last year for the Lady Rangers and received the honor of Second Team All-Great American Conference.
In sight of her last season, she said one of her goals for this season is to make it to playoffs.
She also wants to have as many assists as possible, score as many goals as she can, and be nominated to First Team All-Great American Conference.
Lopez said she has enjoyed the criminal justice program at NWOSU. She said the professors are good and they teach well. Upon graduation, she wants to get her Master’s in either criminal justice or go to law school.
Eventually, she wants to work in the court system as a translator for bilingual people or as a lawyer for immigrates. She said she wants to return to California to work.
“Every day is such a great memory,” Lopez said. “You do different things every day, so they each leave a special place in my heart.