MICHIGAN, USA — While everyone else is concerned with creating a 'New Year, New Me,' Windsor-native Jaelin Howell had her best year in 2021 and is still letting the good times roll into '22.
Just to name a few of her accomplishments in the last three months, Howell won the NCAA women's soccer national championship with Florida State, was drafted 2nd overall by Racing Louisville FC in the 2021 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Draft, won her second-consecutive MAC Hermann Trophy, and earned the Honda Sportswoman of the Year award for soccer. She also earned another call-up to the US Women's National Team (USWNT) January camp.
"Oh my gosh, it has been an insane month, but all good things and I'm so incredibly blessed and fortunate to even be a part of all of that," Howell said. "I told my coach before the Hermann Awards, 'I already got the trophy I wanted,' it was the national championships, so everything else was just the cherry on top."
A pretty decadent cherry: a 10 pound crystal ball served up to the best collegiate soccer player in the country...two years in a row.
"I work super hard on and off the field to be my best for myself, pushing myself, but also for my team, so to get that reward was amazing," she said. "There's obviously a short list of people who have won [the MAC Hermann] twice, so I'm just honored to be in that same group."
Howell is one of only six women, including two of the best to ever play the game, Mia Hamm and Christine Sinclair. She also joins the company of her own USWNT member Caterina Macario, who she hopes will become a permanent teammate after this recent camp invitation.
"Those first few camps are pretty nerve wracking. You're standing next to the people you idolized your whole life. Now, I'm definitely more comfortable and I want to make an impact and hopefully in this next chapter, kind of be a mainstay, rather than camps here and there," Howell said.
She's sure to be a mainstay on her newest team.
"I'm excited to get started with Louisville, make an impact there, and start a new chapter," she said.
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