Jordan in nets for entire college field hockey season

Kent State University's field hockey team lost its first three games of the 2011 season, but Golden Flashes coach Kathleen Wiler never replaced freshman goalie Jahna Jordan. In the Golden Flashes' fourth game of the season Sept. 3, Jordan earned her first college win with a 3-2 overtime victory against Massachusetts.

Jordan would end up playing every minute of the Golden Flashes' season, and during the last week of October she shared the Mid-American Conference (MAC) defensive player of the week honors.

"I'm really happy with the end of it," Jordan said of her first college field hockey season. "With the beginning not so much, but what you can do about that?"

Jordan allowed 16 goals in her first three games, including a season-high seven at Iowa the day before her first collegiate victory. "I really struggled during the first part of the year, but after the team kept on supporting me I met my expectations," she said.

Jordan followed her first win by making nine saves in a 3-2 triumph Sept. 9 at Lock Haven, and she also made nine saves in a 4-1 home loss Sept. 18 at Ohio State and a 2-1 home win Oct. 28 against Ohio.

"I made some really good saves and came into my game," Jordan said. "I finally got comfortable with playing at the college level."

Jordan finished the season with a 2.91 goals against average and an 8-13 record. She played all 1,537 minutes and 18 seconds of Kent State's 2011 games and made 106 saves while allowing 64 goals for a .624 save percentage.

Jordan spent her high school freshman year with Fallbrook's junior varsity team before making the Warrior varsity as a sophomore. In her senior year, she faced 114 shots on goal and had 100 saves for a .877 save percentage. She was the all-CIF first team goalie as a senior after receiving second-team all-CIF honors as a junior. Jordan also received second-team Avocado League recognition as a sophomore and junior before garnering first-team all-league accolades in 2010.

Jordan often yielded the nets to Drea Gomez when Fallbrook had a comfortable lead. No other Kent State player was in the nets for 2011. "I was the only goalie, so there was a lot of pressure on me, but the team supported me a lot," Jordan said.

During Jordan's season on Fallbrook's junior varsity and her three years on the Warriors' varsity, one of her teammates was Lauren Hughey. Hughey earned a field hockey scholarship to Miami University, which is also in the Mid-American Conference. "That was funny," Jordan said of facing Hughey. "She was a forward and I was a goalie, so when I saw her I would make sure she was marked."

The RedHawks won both games against Kent State, taking a 2-1 victory Oct. 1 at Kent State and a 6-5 win Oct. 23 at Miami. "It was really great competition," Jordan said.

The six goals Jordan allowed Oct. 23 constituted her second-highest total of the season, although she made seven saves against the RedHawks. She followed that with three outings in which she allowed one goal. A pair of overtime 2-1 home wins Oct. 28 against Ohio and Oct. 29 against Central Michigan closed out the regular season and also gave Jordan a share of the MAC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

"That was great. I couldn't believe I actually got that for the MAC, especially because I'm so young," Jordan said.

Jordan shared MAC Defensive Player of the Week honors with Missouri State goalie Andrea Bain. The Oct. 28 game was Ohio's only conference loss of the season; Jordan made nine saves in 84:58 of play before Carla Johl scored with two seconds left in the first overtime. Jordan allowed Central Michigan one goal in 71:46 of play.

The two wins gave Kent State second place in the regular-season MAC standings and a first-round bye in the conference tournament. A 4-1 victory Nov. 4 against Central Michigan put Kent State into the MAC tournament finals, where Ohio took a 2-1 victory in overtime.

Jordan is a fashion merchandising major at Kent State when she's not on the field hockey team.

"It was a great season, and I loved my teammates," Jordan said. "It was a great learning experience."