Kyle Nicklaw and Fernando Ochoa pulled off a rare feat on Tuesday night, with both getting hat tricks in the first half as No. 20 SBCC routed East Los Angeles 6-0 in a men’s soccer game at La Playa Stadium.
Nicklaw and Ochoa didn’t have a goal or assist in the Vaqueros’ first five games, and SBCC had only scored six goals all year.
Ochoa, a freshman forward from Dos Pueblos High, took a short pass from Christopher Robinson and ripped in a 20-yard shot with his left foot at 15:18. In the 32nd minute, Nicklaw ran onto a long pass from Alexander Foy and beat the keeper to the left to make it 2-0.
Nicklaw found the net again just three minutes later, taking a pass from Jonas Romero, and scoring at 35:05. Rene Sanchez was called for a hand ball in the box and Nicklaw crushed a penalty kick into the upper right at 39:36 for a 4-0 lead.
Nicklaw, a freshman from Crespi High in Encino, produced his hat trick in just 7 minutes, 36 seconds.
“I was feeling a little frustrated early in the game when I got those two offsides and missed an easy one right in front of the box,” said Nicklaw. “Honestly, it feels really good to be able to finally start capitalizing for the team. It’s going to be good going forward.
“We’ve been relying on Chris (Robinson) to run down the line and put in a lot of goals. Recently in training, Christy (Gates-Bowes) has been putting the team together really well in terms of the formation, building up and getting a lot more of us in play up top.”
Ochoa notched his second goal at 41:30 after another assist from Romero. In the last minute of the first half, Robinson was knocked down in the box by Christian Carranza. Ochoa’s left-footed PK went right up the middle to complete his hat trick.
“We really focused on scoring goals tonight and we kept putting them in the back of the net,” said Ochoa. “We played well in both halves.”
It was the second straight shutout by the Vaqueros and their third of the year. They’ve only allowed four goals in six games.
The Vaqueros return to action on Friday at Canyons with kickoff at 5:30 p.m.