Who Is Penelope Hocking?
Penelope Hocking has just joined Bay FC coming from Chicago Red Stars in exchange for $250,000 in intra-league transfer funds in 2024 plus an additional $100,000 in intra-league transfer funds in 2025, as announced by Bay FC.
She will be playing in a team that has former Liverpool, Arsenal, and Barcelona’s Asisat Oshoala, Racheal Kundananji, Princess Marfo, Tess Boade, and former San Diego Wave player Rachel Hill.
These players will form the team’s attacking line this season, and Hocking will, therefore, have to prove her talent and try to get the most possible playing time during the season in order to be impactful and develop even more as a striker.
Plus, getting to play a lot for Bay FC and succeeding as a team player or a key player would certainly open new paths for her, which would help her career in the long run, whether in the NWSL or in Europe.
Penelope Hocking started her college football career at the USC Trojans in 2018, representing the University of Southern California in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I women’s soccer.
She scored 54 goals in 72 played games with USC Trojans, surpassing Isabelle Harvey’s goalscoring record.
This means that Hocking was already a clinical goalscorer at USC Trojans and was able to break records at her first club while developing her goalscoring and finishing skills even further.
Afterwards, Hocking moved to Penn State Nittany Lions in 2022, scored seven goals, and provided 11 assists in 23 played matches.
Her performances in the NCAA allowed her to get some attractive opportunities and join the NWSL side, Chicago Red Stars, for one season.
During the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Hocking confirmed her traits as a pure striker and proved to a larger community that she has what it takes to be among the best forwards in the NWSL.
She had a very positive season with the Red Stars.
She scored seven goals in her first season at Chicago Red Stars and four goals in her second season with them, in addition to three assists in 29 games for the Red Stars after becoming the seventh pick in the 2023 NWSL Draft.
Therefore, Bay FC will surely have no risks with this new signing, as she has already proved that she can greatly contribute to any NWSL team’s attack.
In addition to her overall very positive performances on a club level, Hocking also got the opportunity to participate in the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup with the USWNT under-20 team and participated in other training camps with the under-23 roster.
Although such participations add to Hocking’s experience and improve various aspects in her playing style, a call-up to the USWNT senior teams would help her a lot on all levels, especially in terms of confidence and international experience.
In this tactical analysis and Penelope Hocking scout report, we will focus on Hocking’s goalscoring traits and her abilities as a striker.
The analysis will also shed some light on the American’s playmaking skills, exploring her possible roles at Bay FC and how she can benefit the team’s tactics.
Penelope Hocking Position At Bay FC
Hocking is a striker who can cope well with a few positions in attack and can also play according to various formations.
Since she recently moved to Bay FC, she will need to work very hard to get some playing time in the presence of players like Rachel Hill, Racheal Kundananji, and Asisat Oshoala.
Although these names are more powerful and have more experience than Hocking, the latter can impose herself among them mainly because she is not restricted to playing as a striker but can also play on the wings and replace Hill or Kundananji whenever needed.
Plus, Hocking’s advantage is her mastery of set pieces, which makes Albertin Montoya think twice before leaving her on the bench.
That’s why it will be crucial for Hocking to work even further on improving her set-piece-taking traits to make her presence almost obligatory within the team.
Hocking can be a reliable choice as a winger because she can adapt well to that position and execute the roles needed for it.
With a proven ability of providing crosses, key passes and assists using both feet, in addition to scoring using curved shots from distance as well as cutting inside with ease, Hocking can surely represent a very good alternative for Hill and Kundananji on the wings.
That being said, Hocking’s most suitable position is the striker role.
However, with Oshoala being naturally the first choice for Montoya, Hocking should show her abilities in training and in the opportunities that she will get in order to get more playing time as a substitute for Oshoala.
At the same time, Montoya could play both strikers together in an attacking duo, with Hocking as the second striker and Oshoala as the main striker.
But since Montoya often prefers to opt for formations with a single striker upfront, it is more probable that Hocking will be used as an advanced playmaker just behind Oshoala in this case, knowing that Hocking has already played in that position before, as shown in the following heat map.
Therefore, the most probable positions for Hocking would be the striker role (replacing Oshoala), playing just behind Oshoala as an advanced playmaker, playing as a second striker alongside Oshoala or replacing one of the wingers with more probability to play on the left-wing.
Penelope Hocking Finishing Skills & Goalscoring Instinct
Hocking can be considered one of the best emerging talents in the NWSL regarding strikers, especially when it comes to finishing and movements inside the box.
With an average of 0,44 goals per game and 3.04 shots per match, Hocking can be considered as a very dangerous forward who can score beautiful goals and be usually clinical.
Bay FC made a smart choice by acquiring such a dynamic player who proved her ability to disturb any defensive line, whether in the NCAA or, lately, in the NWSL as well.
She is a striker who scores goals using different shooting techniques and adapts to the complicated situations she finds herself in, which differentiates her from other strikers who might look surprised or confused when put in certain circumstances or when being tightly marked.
Hocking showed on many occasions that she can cope well with marking and usually finds a way to finish the action despite the tight marking.
Also, her quick yet efficient decision-making inside the box, whether in terms of positioning or finishing, already makes her one of the best in the league, knowing that she still has a huge margin for progress in this regard.
Mastering volleys is very important for ambitious strikers who want to be clinical despite the complexity of the received ball.
In this regard, Hocking proved more than once her ability to execute volleys in complicated situations and still succeed in scoring them.
The following example shows one of her goals with Chicago Red Stars and highlights this ability of scoring a volley despite being tightly marked by the opponent.
The simplicity with which she executes this volley and the fluidity of her body coordination in this action proves that Hocking has concrete talent, especially in goalscoring.
Moreover, Hocking has a very strong personality and, more importantly, a lot of desire to score.
This desire can always be seen in Hocking’s performances and, especially, when she gets goalscoring opportunities.
She is very clinical and reliable when it comes to second balls, as she has already scored many goals by getting first balls cleared by goalkeepers.
She also proved that she could run faster than her opponents whenever needed, especially when faced with a goalscoring opportunity.
This means that Hocking knows when to accelerate and when to conserve her energy, just like experienced and clinical strikers do.
This goal example shows how Hocking resorted to a sliding tackle to ensure that she scored a goal after she surpassed her opponents, knowing that she was behind them initially.
It is also important to know that Hocking has repeatedly proven that she can cut inside and curve the ball towards the far post, which makes her capable of playing on the left wing and remaining dangerous.
Additionally, Hocking uses her left foot well and adapts to situations where she receives passes that require shooting with the left foot.
That’s why we sometimes see her scoring goals with her left foot while making it look very natural.
This ability to score using both feet represents a plus for Hocking and confuses goalkeepers facing the American player.
Penelope Hocking Playmaking & Assists
With 0.19 assists per game and passing accuracy reaching 69,9% overall and 50,5% towards the box, Hocking can improve a lot in this aspect if Montoya works further with her regarding playmaking.
Although she has repeatedly proven that she can provide key passes and even assists, Hocking has the potential to become a much more dangerous player when it comes to passing, especially if she plays a lot as an advanced playmaker.
That being said, we should stress that Hocking is not egoistic inside the box and has proven many times that she can provide excellent passes that turn into goals or dangerous chances.
The following assist for instance was executed using her left foot near the corner line, providing a key pass to her teammate who did not have much difficulty scoring it.
In the following example, she succeeds once again in taking the decision very quickly and in providing an intelligent pass between two defenders, giving the chance to her teammate to have a shooting and eventually a goalscoring opportunity.
In this goal action, it is important to note that she used her left foot to provide the assist, meaning that the usage of the left foot in terms of passing is not a coincidence but rather a choice, used whenever needed.
Moreover, Hocking sometimes provides passes between the lines that require vision and good timing to be impactful.
The following assist executed when she used to play with the Penn State Nittany Lions highlights her vision and ability to provide such passes between the lines and behind the defensive line.
Nevertheless, it can also be noted that this was the last time she provided such an assist between the lines.
Therefore, it will be very important for Montoya to work with Hocking on intensifying such key passes in order to make her impactful for Bay FC in terms of playmaking and not only in terms of goalscoring, especially if he plans on using her as a playmaker or as a winger at times.
Conclusion
Penelope Hocking promises to be a very useful signing for Bay FC this season.
She has a lot of talent, determination, and a desire to win.
Her main challenge will be knowing how to adapt to her new team and especially how to get sufficient playing time to show what she is capable of.
If given her opportunity, it will not be surprising if Hocking turns out to be one of Bay FC’s most impactful players this season.
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