Sophomore Ilse De Jong exceeded expectations in her second season of soccer at USAO by winning the 2024-2025 Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) Player of the Year award as well as the 2024-2025 SAC Offensive Player of the Year.
De Jong hails from The Netherlands. When she received her offer to attend USAO and play soccer, she felt it was a great opportunity. With the help of a recruiting agency, she was able to get a look at USAO’s soccer program and said it felt like the right fit.
She felt that the combination of both soccer and school at a university in the United States was what was best for her. While she could play soccer and attend university at home, De Jong said that it would have been too time-consuming. Both soccer and college at home would have been separate commitments for her, whereas they are combined at an American university.
De Jong started as a center back on the women’s soccer team last year but recently made the change to midfield, a position she was more familiar with.
“I’m a midfielder, I always have been a midfielder, and this year I played to my strengths. I got the ball on my feet, and I got a lot of freedom on the ball, and then also made a lot of success,” De Jong said.
Over the course of this season, De Jong played in 22 games, scoring the second-most goals on the team with 15 as well as the second-most assists with nine. She proved to her team that she was a striker, with 81 shot attempts and four game-winning goals.
De Jong felt that a contributor to her success was making the switch to midfield. She felt that her previous position was something that she had to adapt to, finding it difficult to make progress.
Her efforts this season have led to high praise and multiple SAC awards, which have given her confidence and a lot to prove next year. De Jong attributes her triumph to the team as a whole.
“I feel like this was a team effort, obviously it’s not just me, but because of our team,” De Jong said.
She has enjoyed her experience with USAO women’s soccer thus far. She feels that there is a strong culture and good chemistry within the team.
In terms of next season, USAO women’s soccer Head Coach Niall Crick believes that De Jong will set her own expectations for herself.
“The sky is the limit on her potential but I’m positive she will work incredibly hard to be even better than she was this year. She is very driven to be the best,” Crick said.
Crick spoke highly of De Jong and said she is gifted in many ways.
“She can shoot from anywhere; she can dribble past players with ease, and she has incredible vision, but her best attribute is how hard she works for the team. She is the ultimate team player both on and off the field,” Crick said.
De Jong and the rest of USAO’s women’s soccer team look forward to their next season, which will begin next fall.
Whitley Brown is a second-year communication major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
