Westlake senior Marco Hernandez finished his high school career this season by leading the Warriors to the CIF Southern Section Division 5 quarterfinals.
He scored 30 goals and had 10 assists as Westlake went 14-5-4 overall. It was the highest scoring output by a player in the Westlake program in over 20 years.
He is the Daily News’ boys soccer player of the year.
“He had an exceptional year, you don’t see this very often,” Westlake coach Aerick Brown said. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen it in 10, 20 years.”
Hernandez, who moved to the Westlake area the summer before his freshman year, had some strong years on JV and varsity, but this season he emerged as the area’s top player.
In the playoffs against Bellflower, the senior turned a scoreless deadlock into a blowout for Westlake when he fired in three goals in a span of six minutes.
“He’s like (Robert) Lewandowski,” Brown said, referring to the striker for Barcelona and Poland’s national team. “He gets his knee or his toe on it and bashes it in. And he can score with his head.”
Hernandez is undecided on where he will play next year. Brown knows wherever the forward ends up, that program is getting a workhorse.
“He’s been playing high-level club ball, preparing for (college), and doing his job with us at the high school,” Brown said. “So I think he’s going to succeed at the next level, whether it’s juco or the NCAA college ball. I think he’ll be a good player and he’ll continue to be a contributor.”
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