By Ridge Mahoney, Senior Editor
Soccer America Magazine

He was born in Las Vegas and scraped through some lean years in San Diego, but he always seemed destined for Los Angeles.

That's where Herculez Gomez attended his first real soccer game, that's where he first broke into the pro ranks, and in L.A. this season he's been shaking off tacklers and scoring goals.

''First game I ever saw was Galaxy-Columbus,'' he remembers. ''I was maybe 15. I drove down from Vegas with my coach [Frank Lemmon]. Galaxy won, 1-0, Cobi Jones scored, from that moment I knew the Galaxy was my team and I knew Cobi was someone I'd look up to and I wanted to be a player.''

His locker is across the room from the one used by Jones at Home Depot Center. Thanks in part to the service of Jones, Landon Donovan and a few others, Gomez is scoring goals. A lot of goals.

Eleven goals in league play, six more in the Open Cup, and another three in the reserve league. Not bad for someone who was waived in 2003, when he played five minutes in MLS and suffered a broken foot while playing on loan for minor league Seattle.

''It definitely made me take a step back,'' said Gomez, who was 21 at the time and had joined the Galaxy late in the 2002 season as a developmental player. ''It humbled me and showed me how much more I needed to improve or mentally maybe I wasn't there. I sharpened up my game. I was really young and I'm still growing mentally and still learning.''

He's grown into a strong, supple forward (5-foot-10, 165 pounds) and has moved off the developmental squad onto the 18-man roster. He's signed with an agent and there are negotiations to be conducted in the offseason because his value has increased exponentially.

''Somebody had to step up for the team and he's been the guy,'' says defender Todd Dunivant.

''He's so dangerous getting in behind defenses,'' Dunivant says. ''His runs are so crisp and sharp. He makes these quick bursts into space and he's very difficult to defend against. If he gets one step on you, he's gone, and he'll shoot from any angle and he's got an absolute bomb of a shot. Anywhere around the goal, he's shooting.''

Of his 54 shots, 25 have been on target, which keeps keepers on their toes and gives the Galaxy a chance to beat anybody, even archrival San Jose, which ended the season by beating L.A., 3-1, partly because it was able to shackle Gomez somewhat. The Quakes will need that sort of defense in the two-game playoff series that commences Sunday at Home Depot Center.

''He has great physical power, is very strong on the ball, and has a great feel for where he is in relation to the goal,'' says Coach Steve Sampson. ''In this league there aren't a lot of players with that high a percentage of getting their shots on goal, and he's one of them.''

Former Galaxy assistant coach Ralph Perez first spotted Gomez in a match between the Galaxy and the USL San Diego Gauchos after Gomez had forsaken college soccer and played with third-tier teams in Mexico.

Gomez scored the Gauchos only goal in a 7-1 loss and Perez invited him north.

After the Galaxy waived him two years ago, he went back to San Diego to play for the indoor Sockers of the MISL. But Perez, who by then had joined the Galaxy's front office, kept an eye on him.

''Ralph deserves the credit,'' says Sampson. ''He encouraged us to take another look at him. We saw he had all the physical tools to make an impact in this league. He came into preseason and was a little rough around the edges, as any player would coming from the indoor game.

''He was really able to show his talents in the reserve league, which has really been a tremendous plus for MLS. If we didn't have the reserve league it would have easy for us to have overlooked him as well.''

Gomez scored the only goal of the Galaxy's U.S. Open Cup final win and is second on the team to Donovan in regular season goal production.

Many of the Galaxy players remember him from his first year with the team. But as to his origins or travels, where he's been isn't as compelling as where he is now and what he's doing.

''He's hot,'' says Dunivant. ''Leave him be, let him do his thing. He's on fire right now. Whatever he touches turns to gold.''