Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Lorena Hernandez, left, along with Eureka teammates Angeline Conant (center) and Paige Rodgers, all three of whom will play in college.

By Ray Hamill — In her four years playing soccer for the Eureka Loggers, Lorena Hernandez established herself as one of the most dangerous goal scorers in the entire H-DNL.

Soft spoken by nature, Hernandez is anything but shy when she gets in front of goal, and she walks away from Eureka High as one of the most decorated student-athletes in the history of H-DNL sports.

Now she’s taking her talents to the college soccer fields and staying local after recently signing her letter of intent to play for the College of the Redwoods women’s team.

She certainly brings a winning mentality to the local community college program.

During her time with the Loggers, Hernandez played a pivotal role in the team’s four straight North Coast Section championships and three straight Big 4 crowns.

She is one of just three league players ever, along with teammates Angelina Conant and Paige Rodgers, to have won four consecutive NCS titles with the same team.

And she had to overcome some adversity on the path to success.

“Her freshman year was a little rough, dealing with injuries,” said Tommy Learmouth, who was Hernandez’s head coach during her freshman, sophomore and junior seasons. “But once she got healthy, we couldn’t have done what we did without her.”

While some of her teammates garnered more headlines, Hernandez’s role was every bit as important and she earned the respect of opposing coaches along the way, being named all-league in both her junior and senior campaigns.

“Lorena is just awesome,” said Melania Valdez, who coached Hernandez as a senior. “She’s a soft-spoken player, but as soon as she steps on the field you cannot keep your eyes off her.

“She’s incredibly smart with the ball and her ball handling skills are amazing, and she can delegate like no other.”

Hernandez developed a knack for scoring key goals just when the Loggers needed them.

“Lorena, of all the players I’ve ever coached, I think is the most goal hungry,” Learmouth said. “She just has a nose for goal, and in front of the goal she has that killer instinct.”

Hernandez certainly has the talent and instinct to play at the college level and will give the Redwoods women a boost in attack after opting to stay local.

She will be joined at CR by Rodgers.

As for what she will remember the most from her time with the Loggers, like many athletes Hernandez says the time she spent with her teammates was special.

“Probably like the games,” she said. “It was really competitive and it was really fun, especially bonding with the girls too, and just like traveling to other places and just having fun.

“We achieved so much, especially winning our fourth NCS title this year, which was amazing.

“I think we did achieve a lot and improved a lot too.”

Hernandez was on hand recently as multiple Eureka seniors from various sports signed their letters of intent to play at the collegiate level.

She also follows in the footsteps of several former teammates who have taken their talents to the college soccer fields from a Eureka girls soccer program that continues to succeed on and off the field of competition.

Hernandez says she wants to major in criminal justice and wants to keep playing at the collegiate level for as long as she can.

“I would love to have the opportunity to play at a four-year (after my time at CR),” she said.

She added that the biggest influences on her career and the people who have helped her to get to where she is have been “all my coaches and my mom (Mary) especially.”