Lifetime soccer player and strong student Hadley Dickinson, a senior on the UCA Bears soccer team, does not just work hard on the field but is also pursuing an MBA in business marketing.

Dickinson has been at UCA for her entire college career and has been on the soccer team for five seasons. 

Dickinson currently plays as the center midfielder on the team, creating a link between the UCA Bears attack and defensive plays. Center midfielders must constantly be prepared to receive and pass the ball. 

The team and Dickinson work hard to ensure that trust is balanced throughout each player, bringing in multiple wins in the past seasons. 

According to ucasports.com, in the 2020 season, Dickinson “started 18 matches” and had appearances in 20 matches. She did this “while playing over 1,500 minutes.” 

Ucasports.com also said that Dickinson scored two goals in the 2020 season as a midfielder, one of which was the game-winner against Missouri State. This iconic goal led the Bears to be named an SLC All-Academic Second Team. 

Dickinson said that the Bears soccer team is only in its “non-conference season” right now and that the team is “getting things worked out” and things are “finally starting to come together.”

“We won two games at home and you know, lost a couple of away,” said Dickinson. “That’s just how the beginning of the season goes, but we’ve been building on top of every game so I think it’s gonna be a good season.”

Dickinson said that the main goal of the Bears soccer team this season would be to make it to the conference tournament, especially since the team is in a new conference this year. 

Dickinson shared that last season on the team “was a tough season because we played like a full game schedule in the fall and a full game schedule in spring… the biggest takeaway would just be building off of what we worked so hard on last year.”

For the past four years, Dickinson has loved the relationship-building aspect of the team, stating that soccer is a group effort by each teammate. 

Dickinson said “the atmosphere” is her favorite part of being on the team and “the challenge really, it’s just exciting to play in an actual match against other teams.”

Dickinson said being a team player is “always having your teammates back and encouraging them when they are down.”

With her past coaches and parents only 30 minutes away in Cabot, Arkansas, Dickinson has a very supportive team behind her as she ventures into the new season on the team. 

Since this season will be Dickinson’s last, she shared that she is trying to make it her best one yet and also enjoy every minute along the way. 

Dickinson shared that her favorite soccer player is Carli Lloyd, an American soccer player, because of her dedication to the sport. 

Dickinson plans to make this season her best yet for the UCA Bears.