When the lights turn off at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) Soccer Stadium, the work doesn’t stop for senior midfielder and team captain, Spenser Gonzales. “I work five to six days a week [at McDonald’s and Eureka! Burger], and I try not to work on game days,” commented Gonzales when describing her day-to-day schedule.
Gonzales stays moving with her monster of a schedule, but she remains committed to the grind: “I like being busy because when I’m not busy I’m bored.”
Gonzales has practice and class in the morning and leaves school around 2 p.m. to go to work, all while commuting from Rancho Cucamonga every day. She commented, “At [Eureka!] I work from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. and I gotta be up for practice [the next day], so I normally wake up around six. At McDonald’s I’m usually off by 10 p.m., so those days I’m fully rested for practice.”
Gonzales demonstrates excellent time management skills while also serving as a strong leader for her team both on and off the field.
Despite UCR women’s soccer having a conference record of 0-4-1, they can still make the Big West tournament if they win the last five games on their schedule.
Heading into the latter end of the season, Gonzales commented on what she hopes to see: “We’re looking to score more goals … that’s the main thing we’ve been talking about. We had a rough start to the season where we only scored one goal [in the first eight games].”
The most recent game the team played was a thriller against Hawai’i, where Gonzales scored two goals, one of them being a contender for goal of the season. In the 22nd minute, Gonzales scored her second of two goals by launching a high-arching volley from outside of the box that flew over Hawai’i goalkeeper Brianna Chirpich and into the net.
In 2023, Gonzales was an All-Big West Honorable Mention and she’s looking to close her senior year strong.
