Marquez' Hat Trick Powers Canyons Past West L.A. 5-0

Story and photo by Mari Kneisel/COC Sports Information 

College of the Canyons powered past West L.A. College with a 5-0 result on Friday night at the Cougar Soccer Field, locking in another victory in Western State Conference (WSC), South Division play.

Canyons (7-3, 3-1) first found the net in the 13th minute of play when sophomore midfielder Alexa Garcia broke up a through-ball and worked her way around a couple of West L.A. defenders to slot the ball past Wildcats' goalkeeper Jenna Sosa. This was Garcia's third goal of the season.

West L.A. (4-5-3, 1-2-1) was coming off a scoreless tie vs. L.A. Valley College and a 1-0 loss to Santa Monica College but had beaten Antelope Valley College 6-0 to kick off conference play. Prior to Friday night's loss to COC, West L.A. had only allowed 10 goals on the season.  

Canyons sophomore Felicia Marquez stamped her name on the game commanding the center of the field which resulted in her first hat trick of the year. Marquez now owns five of the Cougars' 31 goals this season.  

Her first score came in the 19th minute when sophomore forward Victoria Martinez dropped the ball back to her feet, where Marquez took a touch and lofted the ball to the right side of the net.  

A few minutes later Marquez hammered the ball past Sosa once more as a result from a penalty kick. 

Martinez jumped in on the goal scoring action five minutes after the penalty kick when she challenged Sosa, won the ball and calmly put it away for her sixth of the season. Currently, Ashley Striegel and Martinez are tied for the most goals on the squad.

The Cougars rode into halftime with the 4-0 lead, but the Wildcats came out in the second half energized, controlling the offensive efforts until Marquez's third goal shut that down. 

In the 60th minute, Marquez fought in the midfield to take the ball away from a Wildcat before moving quickly toward the goal and struck it from 30 yards out, rounding out the hat trick and the Cougars' 5-0 victory. 

COC sophomore goalkeeper Annabelle Gonzalez (1-0) stood in net for the first half, picking up the win. Freshman Amanda Hurlimann took over for the second half. The Canyons defense worked to keep the ball away from both Gonzalez and Hurlimann, with the duo walking away with a clean sheet.

Sosa finished the game with the five goals against, on 11 shots, and worked for six saves, before letting West L.A.'s Janelle Guerrero take over with 17 minutes to go. Guerrero worked for two saves on just as many shots.

Canyons is on the road for its next WSC, South Division match vs. Santa Monica College on Tuesday, Oct. 15 for a 4 p.m. kick-off. 

COC then returns home to host Antelope Valley College on Friday, Oct. 18, with a 6 p.m. start time.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.