Vanderbilt signs defender Ava Hetzel on transfer from Arizona

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Making its final addition to the 2021 roster, Vanderbilt soccer announced the addition of defender Ava Hetzel.

Hetzel spent her freshman season at Arizona in 2020-21 and transfers to Vanderbilt as a sophomore with at least three seasons of eligibility remaining.

“Ava is a feisty, attacking outside back with a big engine,” Vanderbilt head coach Darren Ambrose said. “She creates from wide positions and can get endline to endline very quickly. I remember her well from her club days and feel fortunate that she is joining our program. We have had tremendous success over the past four or five years with our wide play, and Ava will add another dimension to that part of our game.”

In her lone season at Arizona, Hetzel was one of four players to start all 15 of the Wildcats’ matches. Scoring once and assisting on two goals, she finished third on the team with four points and was the only Arizona freshman to score a goal and one of two to record an assist. Along the way, she scored her first-career goal in Pac-12 action against Oregon State while providing assists against the Beavers and New Mexico State.

Hetzel joins a Vanderbilt program coming off its third SEC title in three years thanks to its SEC Tournament championship. The Commodores also reached the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-straight season and earned a national seed for the first time in program history. In the last three seasons, Vandy has won the regular-season SEC title (2018), the SEC East (2019) and the SEC Tournament (2020).