A week ago, Aaron Herrera was enjoying a life of relative anonymity. The RSL-Arizona Academy defender from Las Cruces, New Mexico, was part of an 18-3-3 team that is rolling through the USSDA. Headed for the University of New Mexico next year, Herrera was a consistent contributor for the U-18 team.
Then on Sunday, things all changed when his bicycle kick goal from the previous day ended up on SportsCenter’s Top Plays.
“I’ve been charging my phone all day to make sure it doesn’t die,” laughed Herrera, whose Twitter mentions had his phone buzzing with notifications throughout the day on Sunday and Monday.
Herrera is a defender who has focused so much of his time over the last few years on preventing goals. On Saturday, he had other things in mind though.
Challenged by his coaches to convert a set piece, he headed in his first goal in the seventh minute to put the RSL-AZ side up 1-0 over Arsenal at the Grande Sports World.
Early in the second half he added another goal, scoring a second header to put his team up 5-0 in the 60th minute.
“We hadn’t scored off a set piece all year and our coach gave us a challenge and said we’d be rewarded if we scored off a set piece,” Herrera said.
He wasn’t done there, though.
In the 70th minute, the U-18s were set up for a free kick and Herrera trotted forward from his center back position, joking with teammate Diego Silva that he was about to go finish off his hat trick.
“I was feeling it a bit,” he laughed. “I was a little confident.”
The way in which he went about finishing off the hat trick could hardly have been scripted though.
After the initial free kick was blocked, Herrera saw that he was going to have another opportunity. He recycled his run and after a couple of passes, the ball fell to Erik Holt on the right side. Holt lofted a ball to the left side inside the box where Herrera loitered for the opportunity to score.
With the ball eluding the defender marking him, Herrera saw the chance to leap and contort his body into a bicycle kick.
“I just went for it,” he said.
The goal, his third of the match as RSL-AZ coasted to a 9-0 win on Saturday to lift its record to 19-3-3, wound up on SportsCenter’s Top Plays and Herrera quickly became an internet sensation.
“It’s crazy. I never thought this would happen,” Herrera said. “Before the bike, I scored two headers off set pieces, which I’d never done before either and then I finished off the hat trick with a bicycle. It’s kinda crazy.”
