Impact Of A Scholarship: Jasmyne Spencer

As an avid soccer player, animal lover, and environmentalist, Jasmyne Spencer spent her childhood working towards her dreams of playing soccer and trying to change the world. 

When she was awarded an athletic scholarship to play soccer for the Terps, Spencer was incredibly grateful and was determined to prove it was a worthwhile investment. 

“My scholarship gave me my education,” Spencer said. “It's the foundation for who I’ve become. I met so many amazing people from the soccer program, both men and women. We had a lot of international players, and so that was my first introduction to just meeting and becoming friends with people from different cultures, and it really sparked my interest in traveling.”

Spencer was recruited out of Long Island, New York, and always wanted to play soccer at the collegiate level. Once she began to gain notoriety as a recruit, Maryland began to stand out to her. 

Upon arriving at the campus for her visits, Spencer knew that this could be a place where not only could she play soccer, but where she could go to school and embark on the next chapter of her life.  

“I loved it. It is a big campus, but it doesn’t feel that way,” Spencer explained. “The student body had so much school pride, and all the sports teams supported each other, and it felt like an extension of my high school and town community that I grew up in. I felt at home for sure the first time I visited.”

The Terps were in the midst of a retooling during Spencer’s freshman season in 2008, and the team took a big step forward in 2009 by reaching the Sweet Sixteen. 

Playing in a powerhouse conference like the ACC only made the Terps better. The team never backed down from a challenge and spent the two years continuing to get better and better, until they were finally good enough to be considered the class of the conference. 

It was never more evident that Maryland had arrived than when they stunned the No. 2 North Carolina Tar Heels on Oct. 28, 2010 in Chapel Hill. Spencer played a starring role in the victory, taking the foul that would set up Sade Ayinde’s game-winning penalty kick. 

“It was such a good game,” Spencer said. “Obviously, they’re still one of the best colleges for women's soccer in the country. But back then, they were just a powerhouse. My freshman year, they killed us 5-0, and then my sophomore year, we lost 1-0 in the Sweet 16, so I think going into my junior year, we were like, ‘Okay, this is the year. We're going to beat them’. We were so close last year, and it was going back and forth, and it was Sade who scored both goals. One of [the goals] was in overtime, and it was crazy. We celebrated like we won a national championship.”

That 2010 season proved magical for Spencer and the Terps. Maryland would go on to compete for the ACC Tournament championship and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Spencer would become just the third All-American in program history that season. 

Spencer still ranks among Maryland’s top 10 in career points, goals, game-winning goals, and shots.

After college, one of Spencer’s biggest dreams came true as the Philadelphia Independence drafted her in the 2012 Women’s Professional Soccer League draft. She went from the highest of the highs of being drafted to the lowest of the lows when she received the call that the league was folding. 

Spencer found herself at a crossroads, and it wasn’t until Maryland helped find her a completely new path overseas. 

“I didn’t know if I should finish my degree or try and pursue being a pro soccer player,” Spencer said. “Then I started looking into a study abroad program, and Maryland has such a great study abroad program. I was able to go to Denmark and finish my degree. While I was there, I went on a couple of trials and wound up playing for the top team in the top [Danish] league. That was the first pro contract I signed while I was finishing my degree in Denmark, and then I got to play in the Champions League, and it was awesome.”

After a stint with Brøndby in 2012, Spencer caught wind that a new league was forming in the United States and would be called the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). In 2013, Spencer signed with the Washington Spirit and made 17 appearances in the league’s inaugural season. 

Spencer would make several stops over the next few years with Western New York Flash and another trip overseas to play in Australia and back stateside to play for the Orlando Pride. While she was in the sunshine state, she decided to use her platform as a professional athlete to start a clothing brand. 

“I started it in 2016, and it was just custom headbands and a way for me to connect with my fan base,” Spencer said. “I was playing in Orlando at the time, and I got really good feedback and support from it. I started to integrate just some eco-friendly and sustainability messages into it. I found it as a way to inspire and educate people and the importance of protecting the environment.”

Spencer decided to keep her side business going for several years but never took the initiative to turn it into something bigger. That was until an injury derailed her career and gave her both the time and perspective needed to take on such a venture. 

“In 2019, I tore my ACL, and I had a ton of time on my hands, so I wanted to rebrand and grow as much as I could,” she said. “I turned it into a full clothing line, and it's been so rewarding every collection. Everything I put out, I tie it to either a social justice or environmental message. So it just promotes both and some of the proceeds donated to different nonprofits, and it's just a way for me to connect with people and share my love for the planet.”

Now playing for the Houston Dash, Spencer has rebranded her company as “Jas It Up,” where she promotes social justice and climate change and donates proceeds to charities designed to combat climate change and help those affected by it. 

Spencer has been able to live her dreams, and to this day she credits her scholarship to Maryland as being one of the key catalysts to lifting her to such heights. Now that she’s using her voice and her platform for good, she wants to extend the gratitude to the university that helped her get there. 

“Thank you so much for the courtesy,” she said. “I owe you so much. You were my stepping stones to everything that I've been able to do since then, and I hope I'm making you proud!”