Maribel Flores Hernández (born January 8, 2005) is a college

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a forward for the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

. Born in the United States, she has represented

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

at the youth international level. She was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year with the Trojans in 2023.

Early life and college career

Flores was born and raised in

Fullerton, California Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617. Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and S ...

, the daughter of Edith Lopez and Jesus Flores. Her mother played soccer into her twenties, and her father played semi-professionally. Flores was raised by her mother and her grandparents. She attended Troy High School. Flores began playing recreational soccer at around age five, soon scoring prolifically. She played club soccer for Fullerton Rangers, Strikers FC, and eventually Slammers FC, where she featured alongside future USC teammates Simone Jackson and Aaliyah Farmer. She led the Slammers to the ECNL under-16 national championship in 2021, being named the ECNL National Player of the Year, and the under-19 national title in 2023. She committed to play college soccer at

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

when she was a junior, but after head coach Jane Alukonis took over at

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, she changed her commitment to the Trojans. She was ranked by ''

TopDrawerSoccer TopDrawerSoccer.com (TDS) is an American soccer website that is dedicated to youth soccer in the United States. Specifically, the website focuses on Academy soccer, high school soccer, and college soccer in the United States. The website was la ...

'' as the No. 18 recruit of the 2023 class.

USC Trojans

Flores led the

with 6 goals and had 5 assists in 18 games (13 starts) in her freshman season in 2023. She helped the Trojans place third in the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

, behind

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and

, in what was the conference's final year, and reach the second round of the NCAA tournament. She was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, third-team All-Pac-12, and second-team Freshman Best XI by ''

''. She missed the start of her sophomore season while at the

2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup () was the 11th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-20 women's national teams of the member as ...

before returning to make 15 appearances off the bench. USC topped the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

and reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, falling to Wake Forest on penalties.

International career

Flores was called into the United States youth national team at the under-17 level in 2021. However, she had promised her grandparents that she would represent Mexico and soon received that opportunity. She had a strong debut tournament with 8 goals and 7 assists at the

2022 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship The 2022 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship was the 7th edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONCACAF for the women's under-17 national teams of the North, Central ...

, including the tying goal in the 2–1 final loss to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. She started all three games at the

2022 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2022 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the 7th edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the multinational–international women's youth football championship, contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, si ...

, scoring the opener in a 2–1 win against eventual tournament champions

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, but Mexico failed to get out of the group stage. The following year, Flores helped lead Mexico to victory at the 2023 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, starting all five games and scoring three goals during the group stage, before beating the United States 2–1 in the final. She suffered a torn meniscus the following May, but recovered to play in all four games (two starts) at the

, helping Mexico finish second in their group before losing 3–2 to the United States in the round of 16.

Honors and awards

USC Trojans *

: 2024 Mexico U20 *

CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship is an association football competition for women's national under-20 teams in the North America, Central America and Caribbean region. It serves as the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-20 Women's ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Individual * Pac-12 Freshman of the Year: 2023 *Third-team All-Pac-12: 2023

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Flores, Maribel Living people 2005 births 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century Mexican sportswomen American sportspeople of Mexican descent Soccer players from California Sportspeople from Fullerton, California American women's soccer players Mexican women's footballers Women's association football forwards Mexico women's youth international footballers USC Trojans women's soccer players