As she climbs the Arizona record books, Jill Aguilera’s main focus is on helping the team win

With two goals against CSUN over the weekend, Arizona star forward Jill Aguilera moved up to third on the school’s all-time goalscorers list. Aguilera, who now has 26 goals in her college career, told BGN, “Being a part of goals and goal scoring opportunities is always fun and in the back of my mind I always thought it would be nice to really leave my mark at UA through goals and assists but my main focus is and always has been to play hard and help my team win games.”

Jill, who is also in the top five all-time in career assists, was able to score in the club’s first scrimmage ahead of this season and obviously has an established pedigree as a star player. How much confidence did she enter the 2021 campaign with? “Confidence was something I struggled with early on in my career at UA,” she explained. “I was so focused on not making mistakes, and when I did that I made more mistakes.”

“I try and find a sweet spot of confidence in my abilities to positively affect the game but not overconfident where I could be letting my team down.”

A native of California, Aguilera is now in her sixth year in Tucson, Arizona. Describing what makes the school and city special to her, Jill said, “UA and Tucson in general is an amazing community of people; no matter where I am, if I’m wearing Arizona gear people come up to me and say “Bear Down” and that immediate support and camaraderie is hard to find at any other school.”

When it comes to things to do or places to eat around or on campus, she said, “Walking on the mall (the big green lawn on campus) is so cool because you see so much of the campus and I love to people watch. One of my favorite places to get food in Tucson is Zinburger; I will always recommend that place to anyone looking for a place to eat.”

In the future, Aguilera could be helping to create someone else’s favorite place as she’s currently pursuing a master’s Degree in Real Estate Development. “I’ve always been interested in real estate but wasn’t sure which aspect I wanted to become involved in; and I’m still not sure what field in the realm of real estate I want to pursue,” she explained, adding that she’s hoping to have that degree around December 2022. “Later in life I’d love to flip houses or be an interior designer.”

But, her next career move may be taking her to the Windy City. In a complete surprise to Jill, her rights were acquired by the NWSL’s Chicago Red Stars. “COVID changed the rules for the 2021 draft and I had no idea about the changes until my rights were acquired,” she explained. “I’ve had a few phone calls and zooms with the coaches. I am super excited to play at the next level, it really is a dream come true.”

Before she makes the move to the professional ranks, Aguilera will still be terrorizing college defenders for the rest of the 2021 season. Arizona is off to a 2-2 start with a three-match homestand up next, starting tomorrow vs. Texas Tech at 7 PM MST (tickets available here). While her focus is on helping the team win, you can rest assured that one of Arizona’s all-time great players will be adding to her historic tally of goals and assists.

Carson A Merk

Reporting live from Sin City, I have covered both RGVFC and Las Vegas Lights FC since their inceptions. I also write profiles to highlight players from the NCAA to USL to NWSL and everywhere in between.