Maryland Love Connection: Jason and Caitlin Herrick
Meghan Curtis, Maryland Media Relations
5/7/2021
Jason Herrick came from Windy City, while the former Caitlin McDowell hails from the Lone Star State (Plano, Texas, on the outskirts of Dallas to be clearer). Chances are their paths never would have crossed, except for one thing … the University of Maryland, its soccer programs, and a dorm on South Campus (Montgomery Hall to be specific).
While their relationship was born, developed, and grew at Maryland, it almost happened elsewhere.
“We were both highly recruited by Northwestern,” recalls Caitlin. “We both almost went there. I actually committed there, but I ended up switching to Maryland and he was already going there. We always talk about the universe meant for us to be together. Because we would have either been together there or in Maryland, which is just really wild.”
But both decided on Maryland, where the women’s and men’s soccer teams were very close and tended to hang out together in Montgomery Hall. Some of Caitlin’s teammates happened to be friends with Jason, who arrived on campus in 2006, a year prior to Caitlin.
So like many relationships, mutual friends brought them together. Almost instantly, the two became good friends. They found their faith in God was a commonality between them. They credit the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), where Caitlin was a leader and Cru for bringing them even closer together.
While the two were fast friends, the romance took a while. It wasn’t until the spring of 2010 that they officially started dating. But dating a fellow student-athlete certainly came with challenges, but dating a fellow student-athlete who competed in the same season was a whole different story.
They had already developed great time management skills from balancing school and soccer, so they were able to balance spending time with one another, too.
“In the fall, there were times when we wouldn’t see each other for a while because we’d be out of town for three days then they would be out of town for three days…we were committed to our sport, but also committed to making the relationship work too,” said Caitlin.
Despite their chaotic schedules, the two were luckily able to watch some of each other’s home games. Caitlin found it to be “pretty impactful” when Jason attended her games because the girls’ team didn’t attract as many fans as the boys’ team.
Both Jason and Caitlin enjoyed a tremendous amount of success during their playing careers at Maryland.
Jason was a member of the 2008 NCAA Championship team as a sophomore and was among the Starting XI in the national title game victory over North Carolina. He also earned two ACC championships and helped lead the team to NCAA Elite 8 appearances in 2009 and 2010. In fact, he led that 2010 team in goals (11) and was second on the team in points (28).
Caitlin’s time with the Terps was during a transition period but ended with some of the most successful seasons in school history. As a junior in 2009, she helped lead the Terrapins back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2004. Her senior season in 2010 is still evident in the record books. After playing in the midfield for her first three seasons, Caitlin was tasked with moving to left back in the offseason and she responded with 12 assists, which is tied for second in the single-season record book, to help lead the Terps to a berth in the ACC tournament title match and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
In addition to her outstanding career on the field, Caitlin was recognized for her achievements in the classroom, earning second-team Academic All-American honors (the first such award in program history).
Then in 2014, Caitlin traveled to Chicago for a work event, but to her surprise, Jason was going to show up and propose! Caitlin’s friends were with her and helped distract her before the big moment. Once all dressed up and ready to go out, Caitlin peered out the window and saw Jason decked out in a tuxedo standing in front of a horse and carriage in a foot of white snow.
Once Caitlin got downstairs and came face-to-face with Jason, he proposed. Jason’s brother was there, camera in hand, to capture the beautiful and magical moment.
“At that point, I knew what was happening,” said Caitlin. “It was magical; like a snowy magical princess. It was like straight out of Frozen.”
The two were engaged and were so excited they went to see different venues for their wedding that weekend and ended up picking one.
Seven months later, the two got married in the city of Chicago with around 140 guests in attendance. The bridesmaids wore mint green colored dresses and the wedding had a hashtag theme. They had posters all around the venue reading “#MinttobeHerrick.” Once it was time for pictures, the wedding party went all around Chicago to pose in front of the camera.
Through some on-campus recruiting, Caitlin secured a post-graduation job with Aldi. So, when she graduated in 2011, she started her job and has since climbed up the ladder and now is a director of operations for Aldi. After some moving around, she and Jason decided to settle in Maryland.
Post-graduation for Jason was in 2010 where he was almost immediately faced with challenges. He started playing professional soccer for the Chicago Fire where he suffered a head injury in practice after appearing in his first game. He combatted that injury with years of recovery. That included traveling to see different doctors and utilizing different recovery techniques and tools.
“She (Caitlin) was always super supportive in all the appointments and travel I had to do…It was good having Cait to help me through that process and support and encourage me and help me make those decisions a little bit more clearly,” said Jason.
Since then, Jason has worked as a volunteer assistant coach with the Maryland men’s soccer program, a physical education teacher at St. John’s College High School, a head coach for the Potomac Soccer Association, and an associate at Morgan Stanley.
Prior to the COVID pandemic, Jason planned to travel to different schools to speak about head injuries as well as start on a book. Coronavirus has delayed those plans a bit, but Jason continues to write down his thoughts and feelings in preparation for a book in the future.
“My original plan was to write for healing and try to put out a book,” said Jason. “Then I was going to go speak at schools about my experiences, as a Christian in sports, going through injuries, dealing with anxiety and depression. I know a lot of kids are dealing with those same issues.
“I was really passionate about sharing my story and excited to be able to do that. And then I got 10 weeks into doing it when the lockdowns everything happened.”
The couple is now a family of five with Jason and Caitlin being joined by their sons Rowan (2) and Aidan (4 months) and their golden doodle Montgomery, named for Montgomery Hall where it all began.
Throughout COVID Caitlin continued to work at Aldi, visiting her stores.
“Not much change for me,” she said. “I mean, obviously we wear masks and practice social distancing, but I never stopped working. I still go to all my stores, so I'd say it wasn't super impactful for me. Obviously, everyone was kind of on edge at first, but it just became kind of part of life.”
With his plans placed on hold due to the pandemic, Jason took over the role of a stay-at-home dad.
“Something I admire so much about him is that anything that he does he does it 100 percent,” said Caitlin “And for us right now, that means being 100 percent dad. And he is just crushing the dad life.
“The boys are like Jason clones. They look just like him and they have the energy that he has too, which is good because I don't know who else could keep up with them.”
Coming on 11 years together and seven years married, the Herricks have stayed strong together, especially during the coronavirus lockdown. Their relationship has been harder, but they tried to hold a date night every week at their house. Lots of the dates included yummy food like steaks, board games, and card games. Their family has taken advantage of the extra time together.
In the near future, the Terps soccer alums hope their children will start playing soccer. Jason hopes to coach them along their soccer journeys with Caitlin cheering them on the sideline.
“I'll save the coaching for him,” said Caitlin. “He's definitely the one cut out for that. I will be excited to watch the kids play for sure.”
