Female Football Star and Soldier Soon to Graduate from WSU
OGDEN, Utah — After three different universities, three years of military training and three switches to find her major, Veronica Siqueiros has reached the end zone.
She’s about to graduate from Weber State University with a degree in psychology and a minor in military science; she’ll soon be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and she’s wrapping up her fifth and final season with the Utah Falconz semi-professional football league.
“There’s always easier options,” Siqueiros said of her chosen path. “But I like to push myself.”
That drive to push herself is what brought Siqueiros from her hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, to Utah. She graduated high school in what she describes as “not the best part of town,” and considered athletics her ticket out.
“I always wanted to go to college, but financially wasn’t able to do it,” she said. “I knew I really needed to try, otherwise I wasn’t going anywhere.”
Siqueiros’ plan was to either join the military or get an athletic scholarship — she did both. Straight out of high school, she received an offer to play basketball for the College of Eastern Utah. She stayed there for two years, then moved to Dixie State University on another basketball scholarship. Two years after that, her schooling was interrupted when she had to temporarily move back home to help care for sick family members.
When Siqueiros was ready to come back to school, WSU was a promising option. It was affordable, and she could transfer credits. She used the change as a fresh start and an opportunity to pursue the military career she’d always been curious about. Joining Army ROTC helped her pay for school and opened new possibilities for her future.
While she wasn’t on any university athletic teams during her time at WSU, she played flag football with her friends to satisfy her call to sports. It was during one of these games that a woman from the Utah Falconz spotted Siqueiros and invited her to try out.
“I was skeptical at first,” she said. “I’d never thought about women’s football.” Even so, Siqueiros went to tryouts. “It was kind of like, oh, I’ll just dip my toe in the water. Now I absolutely love it.”
Siqueiros has been an athlete her whole life. She grew up consistently playing volleyball, basketball and softball. Football, though, offered something new.
“I’d played all the other sports, but football wasn’t really attainable,” she said. “When I went to high school, females were trying to get on the team and the coach wouldn’t allow it. Men are fortunate to have had this opportunity from day one; women are just having to pick it up.”
Though her interests lie in areas that men have traditionally occupied, she has enough confidence in herself to feel certain of her skills. While she played as a running back with the Utah Falconz, the team won two consecutive national championships. In fact, during her five years of playing with the Falconz, the team has only lost one game.
“I was always the girl playing with the boys and outshining the boys,” she said. “I was that kid who was called a tomboy, and I competed with my brothers. If there’s something I’m not really familiar with, like how football popped up, I’m more than willing to go in and try to grab it by the horns.”
Now Siqueiros will be the first of her seven older siblings to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Thanks to her trio of passions — athletics, psychology and military — she considers herself better equipped for whatever her future holds.
“Everything ties in together,” Siqueiros said. “Being part of ROTC and football, you see all different kinds of people, and I can apply what I’ve learned in psychology classes during my interactions. And learning about leading in ROTC definitely translates to how much better of a leader I am in football.”
When Siqueiros switches between her roles or swaps her military uniform for a football jersey, she maintains her instinct to look out for her group. Her care for others is reflected in what she calls her best-ever sports memory. It wasn’t when she out-performed everyone else, but when her whole team got a chance to play during the 2016 championship game.
“We got far enough ahead in the game at such an early time period that everyone got to play,” she said. “The best part was seeing people who don’t normally score just get in and shine.”
Siqueiros hasn’t stopped scoring goals on the football field, as well as in her academic and work life. Following her graduation in April, she will begin training to embark on her new job as an Army Transportation Officer.
“It was a long road,” Siqueiros said. “But I think it’s my drive to do something with myself, as well as my upbringing with sports, that brought me to where I am today.”
Visit this link for soundbites and footage of Siqueiros training with Weber State Army ROTC at the 22nd St. trailhead in Ogden on March 1 and practicing with the Utah Falconz at Premiere Indoor Soccer in Salt Lake City on March 15.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Rachel Badali, Office of Marketing & Communications
801-626-7295 • rachelbadali@weber.edu- Contact:
Rachel Badali, Office of Marketing & Communications
801-626-7295 • rachelbadali@weber.edu