After a storied career playing for Stanford, Jasmine Aikey is ready for her NWSL debut

Former Stanford midfielder Jasmine Aikey, who won the college soccer equivalent of football’s Heisman Trophy earlier this year, will make her professional debut Saturday with Denver Summit FC, one of the National Women’s Soccer League’s newest teams.

Like Aikey, the expansion club will be making its NWSL debut during its season-opening game against Bay FC at PayPal Park in San Jose, California.

“It’s an honor to be a part of something new that you’re building from the ground up,” said Aikey, who signed with the club in January. “You can say, like, ‘I’ve been here from the beginning.’ I think we have a really good setup from our owners, our staff and vets and the rookies we have coming in.

“It’s been a really fun first few weeks, and I can see that we’re trending in the right direction. I’m really excited, and I think the people of Denver will be, too.”

The Palo Alto, California, native, who grew up just minutes from Stanford, is coming off a historic senior season with the Cardinal. In January, Aikey won the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, college soccer’s top individual honor. She led the nation in points (53), ranked third in goals (21) and tied for second in game-winning goals (seven). She was named MVP of the ACC women’s soccer championship tournament after leading Stanford to the title.

Aikey, who majored in computer science, is also the first Black female athlete – and just the second player ever – to win both the MAC Hermann Trophy and the Division I Academic All-America Team Member of the Year Award in the same season.

“She’s a game changer. She wins games for you with her free-kick ability — just with her presence. The bigger the game, the bigger the performance from Jazzy,” Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe said.

Aikey played a handful of sports growing up and earned a black belt in taekwondo, to which she attributes much of her discipline and focus. She attended many Stanford soccer games, inspired by Cardinal players such as Naomi Girma and Catarina Macario, and her interest in the program grew quickly.

Before Aikey was even in middle school, she was inquiring about attending one of the most selective colleges in the country.

“When I was about 7, I asked one of my friend’s parents what the hardest school to get into was, and as a Stanford alum, naturally, they said Stanford. From then on, I was set on it because I was like, ‘Oh, it’s the hardest. I have to do it,’” Aikey said.

Ratcliffe first noticed Aikey during her early teenage years. As the head coach of his daughter’s soccer team, he coached against Aikey, and her play immediately stood out. She was too young for Stanford to recruit at the time, but when he saw her a few years later, Ratcliffe remembered the impression she had made.

He thought Aikey would be a good fit for Stanford’s program based on her academic and athletic prowess.

“I saw Jazzy when she was young, playing, and I thought she was phenomenal. It’s rare to see a player with such great physical attributes, and also technical attributes, and the competitive spirit,” Ratcliffe said. “All three tied in, and that’s what she had when I saw her at a youth level, and she continued to hone those skills. … She was exactly what we were looking for at Stanford.”

Aikey excelled during her four years on campus, graduating in December with a 3.97 GPA. In January, the ACC named her the 2025 Women’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

“When I won the academic award, that for me was really special, because it felt like my sacrifices on and off the field had kind of paid off. But not much can compare to being named upon legends as a MAC Hermann recipient,” Aikey said.

Aikey said her parents, Merline Saintil and Greg Aikey, emphasized the importance of excellence on and off the field. Saintil, a graduate of Florida A&M University, Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, and Carnegie Mellon, is a particular source of motivation for Aikey.

“My mom is like my biggest inspiration in life, and she emigrated [from] Haiti [to] the U.S. at 5 and was the first one in her family to go to college. She was the valedictorian in her high school,” Aikey said. “When you have that standard set for you and that’s your role model, you just automatically want to, like, rise up, meet those standards. I definitely have always looked toward her as someone I want to be.”

For the most recent edition of her newsletter, Saintil, a Silicon Valley executive and Fortune 100 board member, shared a reflection on the heights she and her daughter have reached in their respective fields.

“I don’t know that I could have dreamt where I am today in my, you know, 5-year-old self. … I do feel, in many ways, I am living a life that I don’t know that I could have dreamt [of] when I was that young, but [I’m] super excited that it’s helped multiply what I think is a great start for Jasmine,” Saintil told Andscape.

Ratcliffe also praised the impact Aikey’s parents have had on their daughter’s career.

“Her parents have done an incredible job of supporting her and helping her live out her dreams. And I know whenever Jazzy scores a goal, you can see her run over to the crowd. She’s pointing at her parents and doing a big heart. … You can see how much that means to her, and it has really inspired her to achieve excellence,” Ratcliffe said.

On Saturday, when Aikey takes the pitch as the youngest player on Denver’s roster, she hopes to inspire other young women.

“I hope that I can set a good example and show young girls that they can achieve what I have and much more, and they should really just go for it — have confidence,” she said.

The post After a storied career playing for Stanford, Jasmine Aikey is ready for her NWSL debut appeared first on Andscape.