Meet Academica SC: Ciara Wilson

Heading into her junior season at Fresno State, Ciara Wilson is looking to continue her strong momentum from 2023.

The ties to the Fresno area were certainly strong on Academica’s 2024 team, and no player is a better example of that than Ciara Wilson. She will be entering her junior year with the Fresno State Bulldogs this fall and grew up in the area, attending Buchanan High School alongside some of her teammates over the summer like Logan Nidy, Bailey Bracha, and many others.

 Photo Courtesy of Academica

Breakout Sophomore Year

Fresno State struggled mightily in Wilson’s freshman year, finishing with a record of 1-14-4. Getting off to a rough start can certainly affect some of the players pretty significantly, and as a result, they were never able to right the ship. On a personal level, Wilson was on the field pretty regularly but only averaged just over 30 minutes per game despite starting in 7 of her 17 appearances. When a player is getting sporadic opportunities like that, it makes it difficult to truly find a rhythm with their game. 

Things changed for Wilson in her sophomore year though, both on a personal level and for the team as a whole. As a team, they still aren’t where they want to be fully, but the Bulldogs took a massive step in the right direction finishing with a record of 5-9-6 which was infinitely better than their 2022 season.

Personally, Wilson exploded onto the scene for Fresno State and showed that she belonged. She started 11 of her 16 appearances, scoring four goals and assisting on six others. Her playing time nearly doubled, and a big part of that was due to confidence. “ I just kept telling myself,  I just need one, like to start the momentum. I feel like I was in a mental block because I wasn't scoring. I felt like I was not doing enough. So, once I got that goal. I was like, ‘Okay, now I can get over this obstacle, and look to the next games.’ As the games went by our team, not even just me, started to produce more. I think we just needed that push, we needed to score more goals.”

Wilson’s best game of her collegiate career so far, at least from an offensive production standpoint came against Colorado College when she had a goal and two assists. When asked about that night, she remained humble and acknowledged the involvement of her teammates rather than taking credit for herself. “You need a whole team to score a goal. You need a whole team to make an assist, you know? It's a credit to everyone when things like that happen, we practice so many things at practice and we just needed to bring it into the games and that's exactly what we did. One of the assists that I had, it was a corner kick and it was driven on the ground, and we scored a goal. We were literally just practicing that, like the day before. So it's just bringing stuff that we practice into the games, which obviously is what we should do, but really paying attention to the details. It definitely benefited us towards the end of the season, and I think a lot of people were surprised with how we did we jumped from maybe third to last, or second to last place, to making it into the tournament. Because we were like, ‘Okay, it's time to show what we can bring to the table’.”

Despite her astronomical improvement in her second year at Fresno State, Wilson knows she still has some things she needs to work on. “I want to be more aggressive offensively, and I'm usually more of an unselfish player like I always try to make sure I find that perfect assist or through ball for the perfect pass. But I think sometimes I miss out on opportunities to take on players and go for my own goals. I feel like I've always been such a team player. I'm not thinking in my head ‘I need to score this goal’, but I have the speed and the ability to take those opportunities. I think over the summer I realized that I sometimes don't play to my full potential, and that has held me back in some ways. Going into this next season, I know what I need to do to be more successful and to help my team more, which is to be more confident on the ball and just know, as soon as I get the ball I'm going to beat this player.”

Key Player for Academica

After being contacted by one of her high school teammates, Logan Nidy, Wilson made her way to Turlock to don Academica’s black and gold over the summer. “First one of my old teammates, Logan, reached out to me about the team and said that she was going to be playing for them this summer. There were a couple of other girls from my area that were playing as well. So, at that point, I looked into it a little more knowing that I was going to be comfortable with the other girls from Fresno. Then the coaches reached out to me, and then the general manager, telling me what the team was about in the new league, and then playing in the USL W, which is basically like semi-pro. That was definitely one of the other reasons, you know, just be able to get more competition and be more ready for the fall season.”

Although Wilson may not have scored a goal for Academica during her ten games with the club, she did add two assists. Statistics alone don’t always tell the full story though. She was creating a lot of chances for both herself and her teammates, while also being reliable defensively as well. Head coach Trisha Gonzales leaned on her a lot, in quite a few different positions over the course of the summer and she handled each assignment well. 

Wilson played a total of 791 minutes with Academica over the course of the summer, and it was clear she was working hard in every single one. 

Although she just turned 20, Wilson plays with the confidence and composure of a professional veteran. She never seemed to panic while making plays and has sky-high potential for how skilled she can become. Entering her junior season, we’ve certainly yet to see the best from Ciara Wilson. Her dedication to being the best possible team player along with her increased confidence in her own scoring ability could take her game to an even higher level.