New Role, Same Goal for Jakobsdóttir
By Kevin Ivany
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – One of three Scandinavian freshmen on the University of Miami women’s soccer roster and the fourth European signed by head coach Sarah Barnes and her staff since arriving on campus just over 18 months ago, María Jakobsdóttir is already beginning to make her presence felt three matches into the 2019 campaign.
A 5-foot, 4-inch midfielder turned striker, Jakobsdóttir has not only been getting accustomed to new classes, teammates, climate and culture over the past month since she flew across the Atlantic Ocean from Garðabær, Iceland to the City Beautiful, but she has also taken on the challenge of learning a new positional role as a center forward. “It was hard at first, but all of the coaches have been very helpful,” Jakobsdóttir said. “We have individual meetings and watch film, where [the coaches] show me how my movements can be better. They help me a lot. So, I feel like I am definitely improving as a striker.”
Along with her new role, she also discussed the Miami heat in comparison to the mild Iceland summers.
“It is very different,” Jakobsdóttir said when asked about her transition from Iceland to Miami. “Soccer here is so much different than it is back at home. Also, it is obviously a lot warmer here then it is in Iceland, so that has probably been the biggest adjustment for me, to be honest. But, I think I am finally starting to adjust to it.”
Prior to enrolling at Miami the freshman attended Fjölbrautaskólinn í Garðabæ and competed as an outside midfielder with Grindavík for two seasons before joining her homegrown club Stjarnan FC; competing in the Pepsi League with both clubs, the highest tier in Iceland.
While competing with Grindavík, Jakobsdóttir was chosen as the most promising player among her peers. In 2012 and 2015 she was named the best player for the Stjarnan U-20 team. Jakobsdóttir also played for Iceland’s U-17 Women’s National Team.
But in just her first month since arriving on campus, assistant coach Jeremy Williams is already seeing tremendous growth out of the first-year student-athlete.
“I think, because of injuries, she has been asked to play a different role then what she was previously used to playing with her club team in Iceland,” Williams said. “I think, at first, the fact of her coming to a new country and environment, working with a new coaching staff and learning a new position had some–I wouldn’t call them hesitations–but she sort of had to figure them out. And I think what I have seen from her over the last week or two, is that she has begun to settle in a little bit more.
“Unlike [freshman midfielder] Ine [Østmo], she didn’t have that luxury of four months in the spring to try and figure it out. Instead, only a week or two after landing in America, she had to prepare for playing in her first match. And that is kind of par for the course with college,” Williams continued. “We are now starting to see a little bit more confidence, a little bit more of her personality as a player come out. Which I think is good.”Despite the position change, it was the striking ability that originally caught the eyes of Barnes, Williams, assistant coach Alan Fread and director of operations Nicholas Petrucelli, when they first discovered Jakobsdóttir’s talents. And the staff knew from the beginning the importance her attacking ability could eventually have on the Hurricanes’ roster.
“We felt like we needed to add a little bit more and we had the means to add another player from an attacking standpoint,” Williams said. “Alan came across [María’s] highlight video and as a staff we all thought that it made sense and that we needed to inquire. I had previously worked with someone named Jona [Hauksdóttir], who worked with María, and she reached out to us.”
Hauksdóttir runs a company that helps both men’s and women’s Icelandic players find colleges that fit them both athletically and academically. She helps guide them through the NCAA and recruiting process.
“So, we began talking with María and seeing what it was she was looking for from a school and soccer standpoint,” Williams continued. “And we ultimately felt that both what she was looking for and what we had to offer kind of aligned. In addition, we felt that all of the pieces fit into what we look for in our attacking players.”
What was it those pieces entailed? The man who caught a glimpse of her talents first had a couple bullets to share.
“Her attacking qualities. Her confidence and ability on the ball. Her ability to take on defenders one-versus-one,” Fread said. “Also, her ability to score goals was important for us, it is sort of what we were looking for at the time and what we felt like she could add to the overall team dynamic.”From the opposite point-of-view, when looking back on her first conversations with the UM coaching staff, Jakobsdóttir remembers her first interactions with Jeremy.
“Jeremy sent me an email first and then we had spoken shortly after that,” Jakobsdóttir said. “We later FaceTimed and I was really nervous talking to him at first. But it turned out great, he is so easy to talk with, which is good.”
Along with Jeremy, Jakobsdóttir had gotten the chance to speak with sophomore forward Gudrun Haralz, who hails from Kópavogur, Iceland, about her transitions to college soccer and America the previous year.
“I knew Gudrun before I came here and had reached out to her a couple times with questions,” Jakobsdóttir said. “She was very helpful and highly recommended the school. In addition, the other Scandinavian girls, Ine and Mari [Horpestad] have been really helpful and it has been so nice having them here.
“[The reason why I chose Miami was because] it is a great school and the soccer team is very good. We also play in the ACC, which is the best conference,” Jakobsdóttir said. “So, it is challenging, which is what I like. In addition, the location here in Miami is awesome and everything about this school is so cool.”
And since arriving, it is the friendships she has already begun to build that has stood out to the freshman.
“The atmosphere [of the team] has been great. We are all friends now,” Jakobsdóttir said. “The seniors have been very helpful and are so nice to all of the freshman, so it is good to talk with them if we have any questions.”
Making her presence on the attack felt on the pitch early on, she notched her first collegiate goal in the home opener against Florida Atlantic on Aug. 30.
In addition, in the Canes’ 6-2 preseason victory over FC Surge, Jakobsdóttir tallied a pair of goals and dished out an assist to lead the Miami offense.
But despite the goal scoring efforts, another piece of her game has begun to stand out to Fread.
“Obviously, we have seen the ability from her to score goals,” Fread said. “Ultimately, I think, we would like to see her score as many goals as she can. I think it is always tough for a freshman coming in to make an immediate impact. But she has definitely already made us better in the attack.
“Also, something we have seen is just her ability to repossess the ball. That is something that has been really good,” Fread continued. “Particularly her ability to track opponents down defensively and being able to create something out of nothing.”
“What we are looking from her this fall, is the rate at which she grows, can we continue that? Not plateau, but continue to have her grow throughout the next four months by learning a new role on the field, being a little bit more accustomed to the American college game. [In addition, we are] kind of figuring her out as a player, what she responds to or how we have to coach her. And kind of learn a little bit from her as well,” Williams said.Overall, Jakobsdóttir was thrilled to get the first counted goal in the books, but at the end of the day only one stat matters to her and that is the success of the team as a whole.
“I was just so happy that I finally got to score a goal,” Jakobsdóttir said. “Coming in, I wasn’t a forward, so it has been kind of hard for me to learn how to be in this position. So, it felt great to finally score that goal, but we didn’t win and I would have preferred we won.”
Despite the second half tally by the freshmen, Miami came up short against the Owls, 2-1, as inclement weather denied a second half surge by the Hurricanes, as the match was abandoned in the 77th minute.
The Canes will look to rebound Saturday night at 7 p.m. when they return to Cobb Stadium to square off against San Diego State.
