Four minutes into her first collegiate game — and her first competitive match in three years — UC San Diego redshirt freshman forward Ava Tibor scored her first goal as a Triton. Just 45 minutes later, she scored her second. After two ACL tears and three years of recovery, Tibor was back on the field — this time, for good.
“I was really excited,” Tibor said to The UCSD Guardian. “Everyone was saying, ‘It only took her four minutes into her college career to score.’ I was just thrilled.”
Over the course of the season, Tibor racked up six goals — a Division-I single season record for UCSD women’s soccer. She was named Big West freshman of the year, making her the first Triton women’s soccer player to earn a major conference title in the Division-I era. She ultimately earned a spot on the all-Big West second team, adding yet another accolade to her vast collection.
But Tibor’s story is full of ups and downs. Her success came after struggling with multiple injuries throughout her high school career — but Tibor refused to give up.
Like many athletes, Tibor’s love for her sport started at a young age. From recreational teams to club and high school squads, Tibor showed great promise.
“My parents just wanted to put me in a sport, but immediately when I played soccer, it just clicked,” Tibor said. “My dad was my soccer coach growing up, recreationally. I joined club when I was 11, which is a little on the later end. Some of my teammates had been playing club for years.”
Tibor played for the Elite Club National League’s Los Angeles Football Club through high school. In her freshman year, she was already making waves, named offensive MVP of the West Valley League and chosen for the Los Angeles all-area team. In a season shortened by COVID, she scored 14 goals in 11 games. In her sophomore year, she led her team to the CIF Los Angeles City Finals and was selected to play for the all-city CIF team. In two years, she tallied 39 goals and 15 assists in 33 games. Tibor holds the single-season point record for her school, El Camino Real, and is also sixth in most career points, something she achieved in less than two years.
Despite her impressive freshman and sophomore seasons, her hot streak stalled during her junior year. As the second half of her high school career began, she suffered injuries that would keep her off the field for the next three years.
“I was really excited to have a really good junior year and a really good senior year,” Tibor said. “I was getting older, and the difference in athleticism was getting smaller. But then, I tore my ACL for the first time.”
During a club game in the fall of 2022, a quick deceleration sent her tumbling on the field. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, she later joked: “if there wasn’t [a] video, I’d come up with an exciting story of how it happened!”
When asked about the injury, Tibor spoke with resignation. “I just stepped wrong,” she said. “I tried to decelerate in one step instead of three, [and] I just heard a really loud pop.”
Tibor had heard from other teammates what it was like to tear an ACL; many of them had experienced the same pop. She immediately knew what her injury likely was, but it was not until she finished the three-hour drive back to Los Angeles that she could confirm it. Tibor had to undergo surgery and was sidelined her entire junior season.
By the fall of 2023, Tibor was eager to return to play, despite some lingering pain in her knee. She began training with her high school team in November, preparing for the first game of the season, slated for mid-December. But her hopes were soon dashed when, in a preseason training exercise, Tibor tore the same ACL again.
“I don’t know if I wasn’t fully recovered,” Tibor said. “I was in pain, and I thought this was the new normal after surgery.”
That year, Tibor began treatment again, undergoing a second ACL surgery and an additional knee scope procedure to recover properly.
Forced to go yet another year without seeing playing time, Tibor turned to social media. She showcased both of her surgeries and her recovery journey on X as a way to fill the space that soccer left behind.
It was through social media that Tibor realized she wasn’t alone in her struggle. Though she originally aimed to attract recruiters by posting her soccer journey, she found that social media was most valuable in helping her to connect with other athletes.
Many of Tibor’s nearly 4,000 followers on X are athletes who have experienced similar injuries. Tibor hopes that sharing her journey will inspire her peers and encourage them to persevere.
“Whenever I see a girl going through that, I always make sure to tell them to keep their heads up and that they’ve got this,” Tibor said. “I’m living proof that it gets so much better.”
Tibor was recruited in her sophomore year, before her first ACL tear. After her second injury, she worried that head coach Kristin Jones wouldn’t have the same faith in her as she did after her commitment in fall 2024 and first injury.
“Coming here, I was nervous I wouldn’t be the same player,” Tibor said. “Thanks to the staff here, the medical team, and my coaches, I’ve been able to make a full recovery.”
Tibor redshirted her first year at UCSD, still stuck in recovery. Her first game back was against Cal this past August. Although the team lost, Tibor scored both of the Triton goals — an incredible feat for her return after two years of setbacks and recovery.
“To score two goals in my first game felt like such a fairytale ending of the nightmare that had happened,” Tibor said.
Following that first explosive match, Tibor was named Big West freshman of the week for two consecutive weeks in August. “That was so fun,” Tibor said of this kickoff to her collegiate career.
As for her future, Tibor wants to relish every moment she plays now that she’s finally made it back to the field. She also hopes to keep connecting with other injured athletes — especially after her 13-year-old sister recently suffered the same ACL tear.
“I feel like you don’t really know how it is until it’s you,” Tibor said.
With Tibor’s efforts, UCSD finished seventh in the Big West, just one spot out of the top-six group that qualified for the conference championship tournament.
Regardless of how the season ended, one thing is clear: Tibor is back on the field for good, and she’s better than ever.
