2023-24 Girls Soccer Player of the Year | Sports

With Vega eager to work on her weak foot, agility and speed, 30 goals seemed achievable. That mark would also put her on track for her personal objective of 100 career goals in her varsity soccer career.

Instead, Vega shattered her previous mark and well surpassed the objective of 30 goals as a junior, scoring 44 goals with 11 assists, not only a Gila Ridge school record, but also a Yuma County record for the most prolific offensive season ever. She led the entire Arizona 6A Division in goals, the most competitive division for girls soccer in the state.

On top of the records, she’s also earned the title of 2023-24 Yuma Sun/Yuma Rotary Club Girls Soccer Player of the Year.

“I did not expect to score as many goals as I did this year,” Vega said. “I got to 28 just past halfway through the season and was shocked because that was my total last year. It was just a crazy season.”

Vega’s stellar junior season opened up with a streak of eight consecutive games with at least one goal scored, highlighted by a seven-goal, three-assist performance in a 15-0 drubbing of Yuma High. She also contributed massively in efforts against much more challenging opponents, scoring in a 4-1 win over 6A Valley Vista.

At the Great Southwestern Shootout Tournament in Yuma in early December, the Hawks went down to Southwest EC (El Centro, Calif.) 1-0 in the opening minutes. Vega went on to score three goals in a hat trick performance which led her team to a 4-1 win.

“She’s got the ability to just flip that switch,” Cox said of Vega. “She turned it on in that game and decided to do it herself because we were struggling as a team… We look to her to get the scoring done early and often for us.”

Last year in Vega’s 28-goal sophomore campaign, she had five multi-goal games and recorded a goal or assist in 15 of the Hawks’ 17 games.

As a junior, she had nine multi-goal games, nearly double to last year’s number. Furthermore, she recorded a goal or assist in 17 of 20 games played by Gila Ridge this season.

“I challenged her this year to not only score in the games we’d probably win, but to score against the tougher opponents and in big moments when we really needed it the most,” Cox added.

One key moment came in Gila Ridge’s 6A Play-In game against Red Mountain at home. Eager to book a spot in the state tournament, all the Hawks needed to do was get past the Mountain Lions, which started with Vega.

The junior broke a 0-0 deadlock that stretched into the early stages of the second half. With space on the edge of the 18-yard box, Vega crushed the ball with her strong foot, dispatching a beautiful strike that curled into the top right corner of the goal from the left side of the field.

Gila Ridge would ultimately lose 3-1 after a rapid response from Red Mountain and a costly Hawks’ injury that sucked away their momentum. Regardless of the result, the Hawks wouldn’t have gotten on the board without the skill of their fearless forward.

As a junior, Vega was able to level up due to several key factors which began in the offseason. At the end of her sophomore year, Cox challenged her to work on her speed and agility, as well as her weak foot to add more dimensions to her game.

Vega participated in track and field last spring and continued to train and play games locally throughout the summer and fall.

“She definitely came into this season a lot quicker, which is one of the reasons she found so much success offensively,” Cox said. “It wasn’t just about scoring goals with amazing shots, it was about being able to beat defenders with her quickness, her first couple steps.”

“We wanted to get her to focus on being uncomfortable, so doing things she hadn’t done before with that first step, as well as using her weak foot all the time. We worked on that in practice and she was constantly trying to get better.”

The hard work certainly paid off for Vega. On top of producing the greatest offensive season in Yuma girls soccer history, her 44 goals and 11 assists were good for a total of 99 points, breaking the 6A single-season record for goals and points.

“Breaking those records, it’s just a surreal thing for me,” she said. “There have been some amazing soccer players to come out of Yuma, so to be among the best is a really crazy thing to process. It’s a really cool thing to say that I have the most goals in a single season here.”

With one season of high school soccer left, what’s next for Vega?

First it’s the century mark. After 18 goals as a freshman, 28 as a sophomore and 44 as a junior, she is just 10 goals shy of her career objective of 100 career goals at the varsity level.

Beyond that, she hopes to help Gila Ridge advance to at least the second round of the state tournament, something that’s never been done at the 6A level for the school.

“For her senior year we’re going to continue to fine-tune some things,” Cox said. “Overall, I’m excited to see what she will bring to the table for her final year. I think she’ll take it to the next level and even if she doesn’t reach the same marks stat-wise, she will for sure contribute with her leadership and maturity that she brings to the team.”