Penelope Elizabeth Hocking (born December 29, 1999) is an American professional

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 Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Bay FC Bay Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the San Francisco Bay Area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The team began play in the NWSL as an expansion team in the 2024 Nat ...

of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

(NWSL). She played college soccer 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 ...

, where she became the program's all-time top scorer and was named first-team All-American. She also played for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

before being selected by the

Chicago Red Stars Chicago Stars Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the Chicago metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league as the Chic ...

in the first round of the

2023 NWSL Draft The 2023 NWSL Draft presented by Ally was the eleventh annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select amateur players above the age of 18 playing in the United States who exhausted, lost, or renounced any remaining ...

Youth career

Hocking grew up in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...

, and played high school soccer for Canyon High School. She played youth soccer for SoCal Blues, with which she won the 2015

ECNL The Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) is a national youth soccer developmental league in the United States. It was founded in 2009 as a girls' league and added a boys' league in 2017. Competition format The ECNL is divided by age groups from U- ...

U15 National Championship.

College career

USC Trojans, 2018–2021

Hocking played

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

women's soccer for the

from 2018 to 2021. She was named 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 ...

freshman of the year in 2018, three-time All-Pac-12 from 2019 to 2021, two-time Pac 12 forward of the year in 2020 and 2021, and first-team All-American in 2020. She set a program record for career goals scored on October 7, 2021, with her 49th, surpassing the previous record held by Isabelle Harvey since 2000. She finished her career with the Trojans with 54 goals scored, at the time the 12th most in Pac-12 history, in her 72 career games played.

Penn State Nittany Lions, 2022

In 2022, Hocking transferred to

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

to play her extra year of NCAA eligibility granted by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She scored seven goals, and her 11 assists tied for 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 ...

lead for the season.

Club career

(NWSL) club

selected Hocking with the seventh overall pick in the

Chicago Red Stars, 2023–2024

On March 20, 2023, Hocking signed a three-year contract with the Red Stars, with an option for a fourth year. On March 25, 2023, Hocking made her debut for the Red Stars in a 2–3 loss against

San Diego Wave FC San Diego Wave Fútbol Club is an American professional soccer team based in San Diego, California, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The team plays its home games at Snapdragon Stadium. Founded on June 8, 2021, the Wav ...

as a starter. On April 15, in her third start and appearance, Hocking scored her first professional goals as a

brace Brace (formerly known as ''Brace For War'') was an Australian mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion. Brace was founded in 2005 by Kya Pate. In an interview with MMA Kanvas Kya Pate detailed what it is like to be the promoter of Australian MMA. Si ...

against

Kansas City Current The Kansas City Current are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Kansas City, Missouri, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded as an NWSL expansion, expansion team in 2021 NWSL ...

in a 4–2 victory.

Bay FC, 2024–

On August 31, 2024, Chicago traded Hocking to fellow NWSL side Bay FC for a $350,000 transfer fee, one of the largest in women's soccer history. The trade was made so that Hocking could play for a team closer to her home.

International career

Hocking played for the

United States women's national under-20 soccer team The United States U-20 women's national soccer team is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the senior women's national team. The team most recentl ...

and competed in the

2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its i ...

. She was also named to the under-23 roster for training camp in January 2022 and also for the 2022 Thorns Spring Invitational pre-season tournament against NWSL teams in March 2022.

Personal life

Hocking's parents are former

Cypress College Cypress College is a public community college in Cypress, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and belongs to the North Orange County Community College District. It offers a variety of general education (55 associat ...

basketball player Venetta Dorlis and former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player

Denny Hocking Dennis Lee "Denny" Hocking (born April 2, 1970) is an American professional baseball manager and former utility player. Hocking played for the Minnesota Twins (1993–2003), Colorado Rockies (2004), and Kansas City Royals (2005). He was a utility ...

. Her paternal grandmother was a youth soccer coach. Hocking has a fraternal twin sister, Iliana, and they were the first twins born to a member of the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

. Penelope and Iliana played together at Canyon High School. Penelope and Iliana were the first sisters selected in the same

NWSL Draft The NWSL Draft was an annual entry draft for the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) which took place in December or January of each year. Prior to 2021 it was known as the NWSL College Draft, and was renamed to reflect that selections were no ...

. Iliana played collegiate soccer as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

, a Pac-12 rival of USC that pitted the sisters against each other. Iliana was drafted by

NJ/NY Gotham FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sk ...

with the 44th overall pick. At the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, Hocking majored in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

Career statistics

Honors

Penn State Nittany Lions *

Big Ten women's soccer tournament The Big Ten women's soccer tournament is the conference championship tournament in soccer for the Big Ten Conference. The tournament is single-elimination format and seeding is based on regular season records. The top four highest-seeded teams hos ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Individual *

Forward of the Year: 2020, 2021 *

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

semifinalist: 2020

References

External links

* *
Chicago Red Stars player profile

USC player profile

Penn State player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hocking, Penelope 1999 births Living people National Women's Soccer League players American women's soccer players Penn State Nittany Lions women's soccer players USC Trojans women's soccer players United States women's under-20 international soccer players Chicago Red Stars draft picks Chicago Red Stars players Soccer players from Anaheim, California Women's association football forwards United States women's youth international soccer players American twins 21st-century American sportswomen Fraternal twins Bay FC players