Meet Academica SC: Blanca Negrete

After an eventful summer, Blanca Negrete faces a fresh start with a new school this fall.

Blanca Negrete is one of the longest-tenured members of Academica SC, but is also one of the youngest at 19 years of age. She’s had an inspiring story at the collegiate level. She started the 2023-24 season as a member of CSU Long Beach’s club team before walking onto their first time in the spring. I originally interviewed her in the middle of June and at that point, it seemed like I’d focus on her upcoming season at Long Beach, however in the world of sports things can quickly change

Photo Courtesy of the Negrete family.

Now, Negrete’s made another big move as she’s transferring across the country to the University of Tennessee-Martin to continue her Division 1 soccer journey. In the meantime, she departed Academica a bit early this summer to play in Europe which we’ll certainly discuss in more depth momentarily. First, let’s talk about her time with Academica.

Tenured Player for Academica

When a league is being established, there’s typically a lot of player movement and not much consistency from year to year which has been the case for the USL W in its infancy. For Academica, there were few players who have been with the team for more than a single season. They spent the 12 months before the 2024 season scouting and recruiting heavily and it resulted in a number of new faces joining the team. Negrete was one of their few returning players. As a result, she had a bit of a unique role in the organization this season. She was one of the most tenured players on the team, but also one of the youngest. It’s a combination that often doesn't go side-by-side, but in this case, they did. 

Negrete joined Academica when they were a member of the Women’s Premier Soccer League in 2022 before the USL-W had even come to fruition. That was the organization’s first dip into the world of women’s sports. She has stuck with the team as they moved leagues, and have improved significantly over the past couple of seasons. After spending some time in the WPSL with the MVLA Wolves in the Bay Area, it seemed like a no-brainer for her to make the jump to a more local team when Academica opened its doors. 

Entering the Transfer Portal

As a Division 1 athlete, it’s important for Negrete to find a balance between the game that she loves and her future outside of it. At Long Beach, she was majoring in computer science and minoring in her true passion, cybersecurity. It’s not a common field of study for an athlete, as a result it was difficult for her to make the classes work around her schedule. Add in the fact that she couldn’t major in cybersecurity at Long Beach, and entering the transfer portal certainly made sense from an academic perspective. She wanted to make it clear though, “I love Long Beach, I really do. I have no bad blood. I still talk to my coaches and they were super helpful when I was thinking about transferring and everything.”

Enter the University of Tennessee-Martin. They offered the opportunity for Negrete to major in cybersecurity while also continuing to play at the D1 level. “A lot of my major classes are only offered in the morning which conflicted with training or at night during game day which it was never going to work. It’s like you have to change your major or just give up. So when I entered the transfer portal, I was trying to find a perfect fit for me, academically and soccer-wise.”

Negrete continued, “I liked that UTM has their practices in the afternoon and I really appreciate the coaches and the team atmosphere. They have a major in cybersecurity, which is something you don’t really find across many schools, so for me, that was really important as I want that to be my career choice. When I look at this, soccer right now is great, and enjoying the journey but I don’t know what’s gonna continue with soccer after college at this time. However, as any athlete, if there is any unforeseen injury I still need to have my academics. So for me, it’s making sure I have my career path set as a scholar-athlete.”

Although she still needs to visit the campus, she’s excited to get started with her new team. “I'm really excited. I like the team and coaching staff. It’s a different conference and region coming from the Big West Conference. I think I can have a really good impact in this conference. There’s more physicality. I know in California, we’re really technical. We like to play the possession but over there, it’s a little more physical however coming from the Central Valley, that’s kind of how we were raised and played so I know I’m very comfortable. I’m used to that.”

Going International

Not many athletes get the opportunity to take on a stage outside of their home country, but this summer Negrete was able to do just that. Her tour of Europe consisted of friendly matches in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France before she competed with SoCal Select in the Donosti Cup in Spain. Due to her age, she was rostered on both the U25 and U19 teams. 

Photo Courtesy of the Negrete family

It was Negrete’s first time in that part of the world, and ultimately it ended up being successful both on and off the pitch. The U19 team ended up making it to the quarterfinals. While the U25 team ended up making it all the way to the final of the Donosti Cup which ended controversially, with it finishing tied after a disallowed goal. 

“This new journey and experience definitely had me afterwards like oh my God, what just happened? I scored a goal when we were in Amsterdam. I scored a goal in a tournament in Spain and for me it was like surreal, reflecting that I can do this like I can compete at this level’.”

Negrete is open to returning to the tournament next season which would turn her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity into a multi-time opportunity. When asked about the possibility she said, there have been conversations with the management about her returning to the U25 team next year. 

Off the Field

When she’s not playing the game of soccer, Negrete enjoys traveling, programming, coding, sports photography, and volunteers to coach both basketball and soccer.

Negrete has a bright future in front of her, whether it be on or off the field. She’s set to graduate from University before her eligibility expires, and she’s planning on continuing her education after she gets her bachelor’s degree. The first thing you notice when talking to her is her confidence and intelligence. She has all the qualities of a successful person, and no matter where life takes her, it seems clear she’ll do well.