Arizona women’s soccer has been filling the stat sheet so far thanks to several players this season. Nobody has made a bigger impact, however, than sophomore forward Brooke Wilson. 

Wilson was born in Vista, Calif, where she knew she wanted to play soccer since a young age. 

“When I was two years old, my mom tried to get me into ballet — she really didn’t want me to play soccer,” Wilson said. “My grandma gave me a soccer ball and I kept kicking it; I wouldn’t pick it up, so that’s when my parents knew it was going to be crazy.”

Wilson’s soccer career took off early as she quickly became one of the most desirable prospects in the country. The four-star recruit was ranked No. 54 in high school on the IMG Academy 150 by Top Drawer Soccer. But despite some of her other offers from schools like Colorado, Santa Clara and Notre Dame, Wilson felt Arizona was the best place for her.

“I really didn’t go on a lot of other visits,” Wilson said. “I came here and they sold it really well.”

          RELATED: Arizona soccer loses conference opener to Colorado at home 

Wilson followed in her mother’s footsteps, a University of Arizona alumna herself, and committed to the UA during her freshman year of high school.

“I just felt like when I walked on campus, it was a home, and the energy was awesome when I talked to the players, so I literally committed right after I came,” Wilson said.

Wilson stepped onto campus and immediately made a name for herself, logging three goals and an assist in her first nine collegiate games. Her season was cut short, however, after breaking her leg midway through last year’s season. 

“It was really discouraging, but my team kept me on my front foot and made sure that I was going to be back and better,” Wilson said.  

Despite not being on the field for most of the year, Wilson viewed her injury as a learning experience. 

“Learning from Jill [Aguilera], Jada [Talley], Cliffy [Hannah Clifford], and Leah [Carillo], who were our forwards last year, I got to observe how they play against these big schools, so just by watching them, that helped me get better,” Wilson said.  

Wilson made a full recovery in the off-season and has been tearing up the competition since then. She’s tallied five goals and two assists in 2019 while leading the team in points and goals scored. Her success has been getting national attention as Wilson has been invited and has attended several Team USA soccer camps.

“It’s pretty cool being around such highly talented people, Wilson said.” It also prepared me for bigger games going into the Pac-12, because I’ve played with a lot of those people at the camps, so it’s just helped me learn and get better.”  

Wilson hopes that one day she can continue playing soccer at a higher level. 

“That’s honestly one of my biggest goals. I don’t even know what kind of job I would want, all I know is that I would want to go pro,” Wilson said. “I just hope I can continue to get better and help Arizona soccer get better.” 

The ’Cats are approaching the bulk of their conference schedule and Wilson is prepared to compete alongside her teammates.

Catch Wilson and the rest of Arizona soccer back in action this week at home against UCLA on Thursday, Oct. 3 and again on Sunday, Oct. 6 against USC.

Follow Jacob Mennuti on Twitter.