Co-Players of the Year power Buchanan girls soccer. ‘Two of my favorite people to coach’
Buchanan High has had plenty of outstanding girls soccer players but few times have the Bears had a pair like seniors Logan Nidy and Ciara Wilson.
Nidy finished the season with 29 goals, 16 assists and was 7 of 7 on penalty kicks. Wilson had 16 goals, 16 assists and was 3 for 3 on penalty kicks while splitting time between forward and center-back defender.
Nidy and Wilson led the Bears to a Tri-River Athletic Conference title, a Central Section Division I title and a berth in the Northern California Division I championship.
They are The Bee’s co-Players of the Year.
“Ciara and I have gotten really close here and we’ve played together for the longest time,” Nidy said. “To be honored with her is like being honored with my sister. We’ve grown up together and grew up playing together. To get as far as we did in our season and to come up and be honored together, it’s really cool.”
Said Wilson of Nidy: “She’s a positive player. She’s always working hard. I love playing with her mostly because of that specific reason. I can always count on her and she can always count on me. We always played well together. I think that was a big thing that helped us out this season. We just had forwards that played with each other for many years and a good friendship and can work well together. She’s a great player and great person and that all came together.”
Buchanan second-year coach Jasara Gillette said Wilson and Nidy have the right focus.
“It’s so easy to get caught up in the wins and the losses,” she said. “We actually don’t talk about that a lot. We don’t talk about the other teams. ... We really try to focus on ourselves.
“Those two girls show up everyday and work hard. They are easy to be around and it’s fun to coach players that want to be out there and want to work hard and those two definitely are two of my favorite people to coach.”
Gilette talked about Wilson’s unique ability to play offense or defense.
“A lot of times, players don’t want to switch positions — especially to defense. She would go back there and lock it down and the girls are like, ‘Come on, Coach, Ciara got to go back.’ Her team had confidence in her which I think is big, to play two positions like that is pretty crazy to switch in games. Her personality fit so well with the girls. She is somebody who wants to win who works hard and has a great attitude and builds the players up. Two of them working together was so huge this year.”
Nidy and Wilson played together from sixth grade, but that will change next season in the Mountain West Conference.
Wilson is set to play at Fresno State while Nidy will attend San Diego State.
This story was originally published April 27, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
