Great forwards score great goals. Well, Maribel Flores does, at least.

One of the freshman forward’s best came against Washington State on the road in Pullman. By the game’s 60th minute, the Trojans found themselves down 1-0 despite tallying more chances than their opponent in the first half. The Cougars were No. 23 in the nation at the time and in a hotly contested Pac-12; dropping just one game would have been costly. The then-No. 19 Trojans needed someone to crack the game open.

Enter, stage left (wing): Flores. 

Junior forward Kayla Colbert sends a lofted cross into the box, which deflects off two Washington State defenders before falling to the feet of graduate midfielder Keely Roy, who attempts a shot from the top of the box. Roy’s shot also deflects, reaching junior forward Izzy Kimberly. Kimberly then cushions a pass to Flores — in space at the top of the box — and she wraps the outside of her boot up and around the ball, lofting it into the upper side-netting, over the keeper’s outstretched arm.

The goal sparked a comeback, with the Trojans eventually winning 2-1. Flores’ attempt seemed almost too audacious to have been practiced, but in the warm-ups before that game, she was honing in on the outside-foot ball-striking technique she used later that day.

“I was warming up with [junior midfielder Simi Awujo],” Flores said. “At some point, I started just curving the ball with the outside of my foot with her. I would bring it down [and] curve it or she’d play me one-time and I’d curve it. We did that for a good 15 minutes, of just curving that ball.”

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Before the Washington State game, Flores had just returned from a camp with the Mexican national team and wasn’t scheduled to start against the Cougars to manage her game load. But she came off the bench with a determination to make a difference.

“The moment I went in, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna score, I’m gonna score,’” Flores said. 

Her combination of skill and determination led to a rapid ascension in the 2023 Pac-12 soccer season. The conference’s coaches voted Flores the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year for her achievements, which also coincided with the conference’s final year of relevance. Next season, Flores and USC will play their trade in the Big Ten, but Flores’ strong rookie season helped her team exit the Pac-12 on a high note. 

The Trojans finished third in the conference — only behind powerhouses UCLA and Stanford — and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament, losing to eventual semifinalists Brigham Young University in a hard-fought, 1-0 loss away from home. Flores posted three shots in the 85 minutes she played in Provo.

As the women’s soccer team goes through its spring training program in preparation for the 2024 season, Flores and those close to her reminisced on her path to USC and her first-season accomplishments in interviews with the Daily Trojan.

The Fullerton, California, native hails from a soccer-loving family. Flores was raised by her mother, Edith Lopez, who was a fairly serious player herself, and Lopez’s parents. Throughout her childhood, Flores remembers her grandfather frequently watching soccer in the living room. 

“I was always surrounded by soccer players, always at the field,” Flores said. “My mom would take me to her pickup games … I guess I didn’t really have an option.”

Coming from a cultural background in which women did not typically focus on sports, Lopez nonetheless played soccer into her mid-20s and recognized the value that sports can bring to one’s life.

“I think one of the biggest things that sports and soccer did for me was [it] really helped create a high level of discipline,” Lopez said. “There’s that essential commitment to be[ing] responsive to trainings, to the guidance that you’re getting from your coach, the competitiveness, the grit and the desire to just win.”

Understanding those principles, Lopez wanted to pass them along to her daughter. 

“That really just transferred over to Maribel as she started growing [and] I discovered, ‘Oh, she’s kinda good!’” Lopez said. It was a realization she had when Flores began playing in a local recreational league around age 5 and started scoring — a lot.

“There was just this natural ability for her to just dribble up a field and just score and celebrate with her teammates,” Lopez said. 

Eventually, Flores had to move past the recreational leagues. Her first club was the Fullerton Rangers, where she played for about four years. From there, a youth soccer coach in Orange County named Craig Bull noticed Flores’ talent and wanted her for his team. At first, the family wasn’t sure a step up would work.

“And for the longest time, he tried to recruit me,” Flores said. “But my mom was working, my grandma was also working, it was very hard for them to come back from work and then take me to Newport Beach to go train. Whereas Fullerton, it’s right there. I could walk myself to practice.” 

Bull won Flores and her family over eventually and she played for him at Strikers FC North before they both moved on to the powerhouse Slammers FC, where Flores’ USC teammates junior forward Simone Jackson and junior midfielder Aaliyah Farmer also played. 

Playing under Bull put Flores on the path to college soccer.

“I owe it all to him, honestly,” Flores said. “He’s my biggest advocate and my biggest inspiration to want more for myself and do better.”

Trojan Head Coach Jane Alukonis first remembered seeing Flores play when she still served as an assistant coach at UCLA. Alukonis was in attendance at one of Flores’ games to scout another player, but Flores caught the coach’s eye with a 2-goal performance. 

After Alukonis took the USC job, she continued to see Flores play every so often, including in a CONCACAF U-17 match in which Flores was representing Mexico.

“Seeing her on TV, I didn’t recognize her at first sight, because I had seen her only in person,” Alukonis said. “And then I was like, ‘Who’s this player?’ and then looked her up again and it was her. I kept seeing her and having to get upset that she was committed elsewhere.”

Initially, Flores had committed to the Stanford Cardinal, a premier NCAA program that in recent years has produced players such as NWSL MVP Sophia Smith and reigning two-time NWSL Defender of the Year Naomi Girma.

Ultimately, though, as Flores became more involved with the Mexican national team, she was no longer sure that Stanford would offer the right fit and balance in her life. 

“It got to a point where I was like, ‘What will be more promising for me?’” Flores said. “‘And where will I feel better?’”

She decided to re-open her recruitment, allowing Alukonis to bring her into the fold. 

“That day, when I found out that she was decommitted, was when I went and watched her club training,” Alukonis said. It was a competitive race to sign Flores, according to Alukonis, but USC won out. 

Alukonis hoped Flores would play a key role at USC from day one, but one can never know how well a freshman will adapt to college life.

“They’re moving away from home for the first time — luckily for [Flores] it’s not super far — just everything is different about their routine,” Alukonis said. “About how they go to school, about where they’re eating, everything about their daily lives is different.”

The Trojans also already had a slew of talented attackers; Flores was going to have to earn every minute she played.

But from the outside looking in, it doesn’t seem like Flores had much trouble adjusting to a college athletic career and in meeting her new teammates. Junior midfielder Helena Sampaio described Flores as initially reserved but a truly joyful presence.

“At first, she’s very shy,” Sampaio said. “But when you start joking around, laughing with her, she starts opening up and then I feel like you can see the true Maribel.”

Alukonis also described Flores as a lighthearted and supportive teammate.

“She’s funny,” Alukonis said. “She’s a girl’s girl. She’s always calling her teammates ‘queen,’ just, like, terms of endearment … Very smart, maybe a little bit quiet at first, but then once you break that initial politeness, she’s just hilarious.”

On the field, Flores hit the ground running with the Trojans and never looked back. Her booming header in a late August game against the Duke Blue Devils — Alukonis’ alma mater, who was ranked No. 4 in the country at the time — kicked off a Trojans comeback that gave USC arguably its biggest win of the 2023 season.

Sampaio knew Flores was a special talent before that game, but the Duke goal gave her a new level of appreciation for Flores’ ability.

“Out of everybody, this girl scored a header against Duke to tie the game,” Sampaio said with an almost incredulous tone. “She’s, like, blessed. She has so much light to her.” 

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The header in question also revealed one of Flores’ greatest qualities: her clutch factor.

“That goal in the Duke game was just insane,” Alukonis said. “She just loves to score, and I think that’s, looking back, the first thing I noticed about her. And when I was just talking to [Bull] about her as we were recruiting her, I said, ‘What are her best qualities?’”

His response was pretty epic. 

“And he just said, ‘She’s just absolutely clutch. Every game we’ve ever needed a goal, she produces.’ Not many players can do that,” Alukonis said. 

For as much attention as her goals receive, though, Flores wants to create for her teammates as often as for herself. 

“As much as I love goal scoring, I truly, truly love assisting my teammates,” Flores said. “I always tried to have the same amount of goals and assists. I think that’s one of my biggest goals … so I feel like I’m doing great on both sides, for me and for my team.”

The numbers back up Flores’ claim. In the fall, she posted five assists to go along with her 6 goals in 13 starts. 

“She’s a magician,” Sampaio said. “When you give the ball to her, she’s going to do everything and anything to get the ball into the net … Actually, she was the one that passed to me before I scored one of my goals this season. It was pretty special because she could have scored herself, but she was very selfless.”

Flores undoubtedly has the talent to play at the professional level. With the NWSL’s increasing popularity and financial opportunity it can offer players, some members of Flores’ peer group may choose to leave school and turn professional early, either in the United States or elsewhere.

“I have always had in the back of my head, what would it be like if I just went pro right now and didn’t finish school,” Flores said. “But my family [and] everyone I talked to is like, ‘You have to finish school,’ and I think I’m starting to see the bigger picture now. So I will be finishing school, because nobody can take away my education.”

For the rest of her time, she has lofty goals for herself and her team. For one, she wants to win a national championship at USC.

“I truly, truly think we can do it. We have such a special group,” Flores said. 

Alukonis knows she has a special talent on her hands for a while longer, but not forever. 

“I’m constantly looking at the clock, being like, ‘Alright, alright, three more years,’” Alukonis said. “‘This next year’s going to be big, the following year’s going to be even bigger,’ so just trying to make sure that we do whatever we can to maximize her potential.”

And Alukonis thinks Flores already has a pro-ready work ethic.

“She’s very professional, she understands that you have to outwork everybody, almost to the point where we need to be like, ‘Okay, slow it down and stop doing so much, you need to rest as well,’” Alukonis said.

Lopez just hopes that her daughter finds balance and personal fulfillment in her journey.

“We’ve had multiple conversations about [a] professional career versus education, and I do hope that she does see the bigger picture in the long run and is able to have the best of both worlds and ultimately reach for the stars.”

One thing’s for certain: Flores is already a star of collegiate soccer.