Gilbert's Senior Season to Cap Memorable Ride at CSUN

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---One of eight nominees for the Wolfson Scholar award, CSUN Women's Soccer's Sydney Gilbert has earned her fair share of accolades during her time with the Matadors.

A 4.0 student grade point student and two-time Big West All-Academic honoree, Gilbert was the top graduating senior in the entire Health and Human Development department this past spring. To her, the Wolfson Scholar nomination was validation of her tireless work in the classroom while at CSUN.

"It was an honor," said Gilbert. "I really didn't expect it when I got the email. The Kinesiology chair called me and let me know about that. It really solidified all of the work that I put into my academics leading up to that point."
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Gilbert graduated from CSUN with a degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in exercise science. While succeeding in the classroom, Gilbert has been a stalwart on the women's soccer team throughout her collegiate career.

Through it all, she has managed to juggle her many responsibilities and maintain a high level of success in school and in soccer.

"On and off the field, it takes a lot of discipline," said Gilbert about her work ethic. "Just being able to understand that some things might have to take a backburner position like a social life, which is common among athletes because with our schedule there's only time to do academics on your free time."

Before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person programs and classes on campus, Gilbert worked at CSUN's Brown Center of Achievement where she administered manual therapeutic aid to an assigned client. There she gained significant experience in what she hopes will be a career in human performance in the future. Her ideal job after CSUN would be to work within an athletic population or in health care rehabilitation.

While the experience was cut short due to the pandemic, Gilbert built a such a strong rapport with her client that she was offered to continue to work with him despite the shutdown of the program.

"I had such a bond with my client that he wanted to work with me despite COVID but I unfortunately couldn't really keep up with that because I had to move back home," said Gilbert.

"It was rewarding that he valued the time we had together enough that he saw improvements in himself," she added. "I also saw improvement with my patient care and my ability to apply everything that I learned up to that point into a practical setting."

Gilbert, who plans to return to CSUN as an athletic training graduate student, first developed an interest in Kinesiology and athletic training in high school through a sports medicine pathway.

She feels that a career in athletic training will also help keep her involved in sports even after her soccer career is over.

"I see the bond that you can make in sports along with the friendships that are built, and being able to be a part of that moving forward even though I wouldn't be an athlete is the goal," said Gilbert.

Her bond with her teammates and the positive environment surrounding the Matadors' soccer program has helped her with her academics as well. Two of the eight Wolfson Scholar finalists were members of the CSUN Women's Soccer team with the eventual winner being her former teammate and close friend Jennifer Anderson.

In recent years, the women's soccer team has also produced Presidential Scholars, University Scholars, graduate students and Dean's List honorees.

"We take the student in the student-athlete very seriously," said Gilbert. "We obviously want each other to do well too. Student-athletes winning major scholarships, doing well in grad school and on the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) and GRE (Graduate Record Examinations), it seems like when they have success, it's also everyone's success."

While an exceptional student in her own right, Gilbert's athletic career at CSUN has been impressive as well. In addition to helping CSUN advance to two Big West Conference title games in three years, she has proven to be a consistent presence on the field.

Gilbert has played in all 59 matches over her three years at CSUN, starting 43 times. She has the opportunity to break the school record for matches played should she play in every match this season and if the Matadors make another deep run in the Big West Tournament.

Her ability to play every match has not been easy though. Gilbert has battled through several injuries to continue to suit up for the Matadors. In the fall of 2018, Gilbert dislocated her shoulder twice within the same month but managed to stay in the lineup and help contribute to the team's success.

"Those two [shoulder injuries] occurred in early October 2018, so the rest of the season, I was training and playing in a brace that pretty much kept me from moving my arm," said Gilbert.

Gilbert would have offseason surgery, forcing her to miss the spring 2019 season. Despite her time away from the field, Gilbert came back to the field and would enjoy her best season yet that fall in helping the Matadors win 12 matches and become a premier defensive unit in the Big West. Gilbert started all 22 matches in her junior campaign in 2019 that culminated with her first career All-Big West selection.

Looking ahead to her senior season with the Matadors, Gilbert expects for her role to change within the team. After a year away from the field, several Matador mainstays have departed due to graduation leaving Gilbert as the most experienced returner. She hopes to take on more of a mentorship role for a squad that features 11 newcomers when the team returns to the pitch this fall.

"I would like to take on more of a leadership role because everybody before me that was older than me had that same captain mentality," said Gilbert. "Since I'm the oldest on the team, I'd like to think I could pass the same knowledge and experience that they did to me."

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California State University Northridge Athletics

Gilbert's Senior Season to Cap Memorable Ride at CSUN

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