With dreams of making it to the professional and national levels for women’s soccer, Union City native Paloma Zermeño is quickly becoming a young star in the making in the East Bay.

Born into a “soccer family” with her mother coming to the United States from Chihuahua, México and her father from Jalisco, México, Zermeño has been playing the sport since the age of four.

Currently 16 years old, Zermeño is a junior at James Logan High School in Union City where she’s been taking the women’s soccer team to new heights and more successes than the program has ever seen.

As the leading scorer for the past three years for the Logan High Colts, Zermeño has received First Team All-League honors and Best Striker honors every year since her freshman year.

While leading the league in scoring this year, she also led Logan High to a 10-0 undefeated season while helping the team become Mission Valley League champions.

Zermeño has been playing at the varsity level since her freshman year, and over the past three years has scored a total of 91 goals, knocking in 30 goals her freshman year, 35 her sophomore year and 26 her junior year.

Head coach of the woman’s soccer team of the Logan High Colts, Antonio Villasenor, expressed that in the school’s history, Logan High has never seen anyone like Zermeño.

Since Logan High’s women’s soccer was implemented in 1977, the school has never accomplished as much as they have in soccer, according to Coach Villasenor.

“I think she is one of the best forwards that Logan High has ever had or will ever have. Next year, she can accomplish 100 career goals and I don’t think anyone has ever done that in the school’s history,” said Villasenor.

“A lot of teams mark her but she can score with up to two to three people on her. She has been very instrumental in us winning the league the past two years and us being undefeated this year. I want to see her go on and play beyond the college level because I see her having success beyond college. I can even see her going to México to play for their national league because they are always looking for American players.”

For Zermeño, playing at the national and professional levels has been a life-long goal for the Mexican-American, and she plans to continue her goals in getting there.

“I’m looking forward to playing soccer in college,” said Zermeño.

“Originally I planned on staying here [in the Bay Area] but since I’m getting offers from other places I’m thinking why not check it out and start new somewhere.”

Zermeño has already received scholarship offers to play for various universities including Portland State and CSU Bakersfield, with many more offers expected to come.

“She comes from a soccer background, since she was little she would watch her dad and her brothers play soccer,” said Zermeño’s mother, Sonia Zermeño.

“She is very natural because since at a young age, she’s been learning,” she continued. “Then all of a sudden, she became really good. When she was little she would cry when they would take the ball away from her but as she grew older, she became familiar with the technicalities. The important thing now is that she goes to school and she plays for a university.”

With the season having come to a close for the Logan High women’s soccer team in February, Zermeño continues to play for the East Bay United Bay Oaks Soccer Club in the Regional Academy League, where she plays against various teams across Northern California and across the country.

While playing for the Bay Oaks soccer club, Zermeño has led her team in scoring and has traveled to various places such Las Vegas, Virginia and Seattle Washington.

Zermeño’s head coach at the Bay Oaks Soccer Club, Katie Pittman, who is also the Assistant Principal of Campus Life at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, expressed high praise for the talented soccer player whom she has coached for two years.

“I think the biggest thing for Paloma as a player is that she has a very natural scoring ability,” said Pittman. “One of the things that stand out to me as a coach is that it is very hard to find players who are creative in the way they play. She has creativity in her style of play that allows her to make some really great goals.

“She’s been working really hard these past couple of years in learning different styles of play and I think she certainly will be successful in college and beyond and hopefully will get a chance to play for the Mexican League,” expressed Pittman.

Although just 16 years old, Zermeño has received quite a bit of attention from spectators around the area.

The Oakland Tribune recognized her as the best forward in the entire east bay recently and the Tri-City Voice gave her “Female Athlete of The Month” honors in her sophomore year.

Zermeño strikes fear into her opponents in both of the leagues that she plays in which causes her to be double and even triple teamed in games, yet still manages to lead her leagues in scoring.

Although Zermeño recalls always being shorter than the rest of the girls on the field, standing in at just 5 feet 1 inch, she refuses to let her height be of a disadvantage.

“I think one of my weaknesses as a player is that I am shorter than the rest of the girls on the field,” expressed Zermeño. “But sometimes that can be a good thing because I get fouled more often so we get a free kick from there.”

Approaching her last year in high school, Zermeño is anticipating a successful future in soccer with the backing and support of her family and community in hopes of one day making it to the national level.