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JALANA ELLIS
COURTESY JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY |
JACKSON, Mississippi -- Jalana Ellis' proclivity to punctuate conversations with "pardon," a side effect of her Canadian upbringing, draws occasional teasing from teammates. Her output on the soccer pitch, however, leaves little need for apologies. The 5-feet-4-inch junior central midfielder from Brampton, Ontario, is set to pace the Jackson State University Tigers as they attempt to reclaim the Southwest Athletic Conference Title the team won in 2013. Since driving more than 1,100 miles south to the JSU campus from her hometown just northwest of Toronto, the 20-year-old has started every game and led the team in points during each of her two seasons. JSU named her Offensive Player of the Year as a freshman, and she earned a spot on the SWAC All-Conference First Team as a midfielder last season.
It was back at the start of her senior year at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Brampton when Ellis committed to not letting her competitive soccer career end with the last whistle of the high-school season.
"In Canada, not many girls get scholarships to Canadian schools," Ellis says. "They don't focus on athletic scholarships as much as they do academic."
So Ellis looked south for college.
Intrigued by historically black college environments, which are absent from Canada, Ellis reached out to the Tigers' then-first-year head coach Dean Joseph in the fall of her senior year.
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