Hoquiam owned the pitch in all facets on Saturday. The Grizzlies peppered the goal and rolled to a 9-0 victory over Castle Rock in a non-league match at Sea Breeze Oval.
The Grizzlies (3-0) out shot the Rockets 28-2 overall and 16-2 in shots on goal. Hoquiam controlled the pace of play from early in the game until the final whistle, only allowing Castle Rock to have a handful of scoring opportunities.
While the Rockets suited up just 11 players and put just two shots on goal, Hoquiam had seven different players score, with Naz Mazariegos notching a hat trick.
“We know everybody knows how to play and we know everybody knows how to score,” Hoquiam assistant coach Carlos Hermenegildo said. “Sometimes it is a little hard for them to find the net, but once they get it down, they are pretty good at it. I think we were a little bit cold (to start) and they couldn’t seem to put together what we’ve been learning in practice, but once we got our passing going they realized they could go forward easy and that is what they did the entire game.”
Castle Rock’s best chance to score came before the Grizzlies got off a shot. A foul call in the third minute gave the Rockets a free kick from the top right corner of the box. Castle Rock’s Arron Dow chipped the ball over the Grizzlies’ wall but his teammate Josh Belcher couldn’t get to the pass before Hoquiam goalkeeper Johnny Smith smothered the ball. The Rockets wouldn’t have another shot for more than 60 minutes of play.
From there, Hoquiam fired 17 shots to score four times before halftime. Andres’ Vazquez put the Grizzlies on the board in the 16th minute and notched what would be the game-winner. Vazquez took a pass about 15 yards out on the right side, dribbled on and beat the goalkeeper one-on-one from eight yards to put Hoquiam up for good.
Mazariegos got the first of his three goals in the 30th minute. The junior dribbled on near the top of the box and the Castle Rock goalkeeper came out to challenge him. The keeper misplayed the ball and Mazariegos sprinted to get past and fired the ball in from about 12 yards out.
Jose Juarez added a goal for Hoquiam on a long shot in the 37th minute and Justin Yi headed in a ball from five yards out in the 39th minute to make it 4-0 at halftime.
The Grizzlies capitalized off a corner kick to start the scoring in the second half. Connor Darras fired a cross from the corner, which Mazariegos chipped in from 12 yards out in the 51st minute.
Juventino Perez took two touches at the top of the box and fired the ball home in the 55th minute to give Hoquiam a 6-0 lead.
Hoquiam’s Gregory Dick came up from his defender spot to score his first career goal in the 58th minute. Dick finished a run on with a low shot that went through the glove of the Castle Rock goalkeeper.
The Grizzlies were given a golden scoring opportunity with a yellow card handed to Dow in the 72nd minute. Darras chipped on the ball from around 20 yards out, which Alex Padilla deflected to Mazariegos who fired the ball in from 10 yards out to finish his hat trick.
“(Naz) has speed and control,” Hermenegildo said. “He is a full player.”
Elliott Foss capped the scoring with a shot from 15 yards in the 75th minute.
Hoquiam hosts Aberdeen on Thursday.
