After 2 injuries in 2 years at Michigan, Vickie Jones spearheads SU’s attack
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Vickie Jones was ready. Ready to return from injury. Ready to become Michigan’s star.
She’d just spent a summer with her club team, Oakland Soul, and entered the 2024 preseason in a “great spot” after a bone bruise in her knee sidelined her for seven games the year prior.
“This is my year,” Vickie thought.
But two days into preseason workouts, Vickie misstepped in practice. “Full-blown” tears rushed down her face. She’d torn her ACL.
“It was hard to grasp it in the moment,” Vickie said. “A whole year, in the moment, felt so long, and it was just hard for me to understand what I was about to go through.”
Although two significant injuries in two years prevented Vickie from starring at Michigan, she returned for her senior season after 10 months of rehab and scored her first collegiate goal last October. She joined Syracuse this season for her final year of eligibility, where she’s scored a team-leading three goals through six games to lead SU’s revamped attack.
“(Vickie’s) a very smart player. She reads the game very well,” said Andrew Waranoff, Vickie’s high school coach at Arroyo High School (California). “She puts herself in the right positions defensively, instinctively, and then she has a very strong touch on the ball. She’s able to receive, get the ball under control and make a decision on what to do with it.”
Vickie’s sister, Vanessa Jones, played college soccer at the University of Toledo, introducing Vickie to the Midwest and nearby Michigan. The California native thought traveling across the country would push her outside of her comfort zone.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vickie couldn’t officially visit Michigan before committing. She and her family didn’t see campus until a self-guided tour after her commitment, but she still had some high praise.
“I truly just loved the campus. I loved the environment,” Vickie said of Michigan. “I loved how successful people were who were going there. I wanted to be somewhere that would also push me.”
Regardless of the circumstances, Vickie was ready for Year 1. Michigan won the Big Ten Tournament and reached the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals in 2021, solidifying itself as one of the nation’s top programs.
Vickie Jones looks for a ball against Niagara on Aug. 27. Injuries limited Jones to one goal in four seasons at Michigan, but she now paces SU with three goals. Cole Christopher | Contributing Photographer
Vickie said it’d be difficult to earn minutes immediately, but she earned them anyway. She appeared in 17 of the Wolverines’ 18 games and recorded her first collegiate assist against Rutgers on Oct. 20, 2022.
“My goal was just any type of minutes I got, to make an immediate impact on the field, and I was able to do that, and I think it gained a lot of trust between me and my coach,” Vickie said. “It was a very solid start, and I think it helped me gain confidence in myself to be like, ‘OK, I can do this.’”
But her strong start didn’t last.
While playing for Oakland Soul in summer 2023, she sustained a bone bruise during a tackle, keeping her out of the first half of the regular season.
“It was really tough that year because I had done really well to gain a spot in the spring and was really working towards gaining more minutes my sophomore year,” Vickie said.
Vickie thinks her junior year was the most trying of her college career, but her mother, Chris Jones, argued it was her sophomore year. Chris said Vickie impressed coaches as a freshman, and it was “really, really difficult” for her to be out for half of 2023.
Even when Vickie returned late in the season, Chris said she lost confidence and tried too hard to please her coaches.
“She wasn’t prioritizing herself at all,” Chris said.
Vickie started therapy that spring and leaned into her faith to regain her strength, Chris said. Shortly after, she earned a starting spot.
Just as her confidence was returning, she tore her ACL. What made it worse was the injury came on a non-contact play Vickie had done “500 million times,” Chris said.
“Being across the country, it was horrible,” Chris said. “Her initial thought was, ‘Why me? Why now?’”
Vickie tried to avoid thinking about the injury for the next few months. She was upset with herself and did whatever she could to stay busy off the pitch.
Inspired by Vanessa, Vickie began crocheting and baking. Chris said both of her daughters were bookworms, and Vickie read books in her spare time. She also earned a 4.0 GPA for the first time in her junior fall.
As Vickie recovered, she offered advice to teammates from the sidelines.
“She never got too down about it,” Waranoff said of Vickie’s injury. “She recognized the challenge in recovery and how big that task is, and she set herself to it.”
She never got too down about it. She recognized the challenge in recovery and how big that task is, and she set herself to it.Andrew Waranoff, Arroyo High School coach
Four to six weeks after tearing her ACL, Vickie started doing certain exercises, such as standing on a balance pad and volleying a soccer ball. A few months into the process, Vickie and Michigan women’s soccer trainer Carter Pallett passed a ball around on the sidelines, allowing Vickie to connect with the team without pushing it.
She continued her recovery with Michigan’s return-to-run program, a five-week process beginning on a treadmill. Closer to the seven-month mark and again three months later, she performed a return-to-play test, which involved cutting, jumping and lower-body strength tests. Finally, Vickie was cleared to return.
“The community that (Vickie) built here with the teammates, coaches and the personality and attitude that she had really allowed her to excel and work through that recovery process,” Pallett said.
Vickie had no doubt she’d fully recover. Chris wanted her daughter to wear a brace upon her return, but she refused, saying, “I don’t want to even think about my knee. If it happens again, it happens. I can’t go into a situation hyperfocused and overthinking something.”
Vickie played in Michigan’s season-opening win over Villanova on Aug. 14, 2025, though she played just 21 minutes. She started 13 games for the Wolverines, none more memorable than Oct. 16 at Maryland.
Before the game, Michigan head coach Jennifer Klein informed Vickie she’d play attack for the first time in her career, Chris said.
“Wait, I haven’t even trained there,” Vickie told Klein.
“You’re fine. Just go out there and do you,” Klein responded.
Her inexperience wasn’t a problem, though. Less than three minutes in, Vickie scored her first collegiate goal.
Zoey Grimes | Design Editorr
Chris couldn’t attend the game but watched from her living room. After the match, Vickie called Chris in excitement.
“It’s probably one of the very few moments throughout my college and club years that I’ll remember forever,” Vickie said. “It felt super rewarding. All that work I put in throughout that year and a half, it finally paid off.”
Chris said she views Vickie differently after her injury. Before the torn ACL, Vickie used to tell herself, “Everybody else got injured except me.” After realizing she’s not immune, Chris said Vickie had a greater appreciation for her teammates.
“It’s almost like getting senses back for the first time after losing them,” Chris said. “She walked into a situation almost a brand new person but still being Vickie.”
As a graduate student, Vickie entered the transfer portal early. Sixty schools were interested in her, but she narrowed her choices to Illinois and Syracuse. She eventually chose the Orange because of head coach Nicky Thrasher Adams.
Chris said Thrasher Adams was present for all of Vickie’s two-day visit and came off very vulnerable in their conversations. Vickie was also drawn to SU by associate head coach Brian Dunleavy, who overlapped with her at Michigan for two years.
“Syracuse has had a really difficult couple of seasons, and I think she wanted to be a part of a program that was blue collar, gritty, where girls really loved each other and supported one another,” Chris said. “(She wanted to) help be a Cinderella story for the program.”
It took 43 games for Vickie to score at Michigan. At Syracuse, it took just two.
In SU’s win over Holy Cross on Aug. 16, Vickie didn’t just tie her goal total from Michigan; She broke it. The graduate student notched two of the Orange’s three goals in the victory and hasn’t let up since.
Now, whenever Vickie has doubts, she thinks of fall 2024. Being on the sidelines. Missing an entire season. Countless hours of rehab.
It reminds her that, after two years at the bottom of the mountain, she’s finally back on top.
