A Lifelong Passion

Soccer has been a lifelong passion of senior midfielder Jefferson-Dow. Growing up in Seattle, Jefferson-Dow was named all-league as a freshman and all-state as a senior, and he helped lead Roosevelt High School to three consecutive Washington state championships.

After spending his freshman and sophomore years on the state’s Olympic Development Program team, Jefferson-Dow moved to Bradenton, Fla., to attend the prestigious Bollettieri Academy, a year-round soccer boarding school. There, students take academic classes in the morning and play soccer in the afternoon. Jefferson-Dow even took two trips with the academy to Brazil to compete against international club teams.

Midway through his senior year, however, Jefferson-Dow decided to return home to Seattle.

“I thought that soccer was so important that I was willing to live far away from my family,” Jefferson-Dow says, “and it sort of made me realize that there are plenty of things more important than soccer and that soccer isn’t that important when it boils down to it.”

Back at Roosevelt High, Jefferson-Dow was recruited by several schools and arranged visits with James Madison, the University of Washington, Santa Clara and South Florida. But it was Georgetown that recruited him the hardest from the beginning.

Jefferson-Dow says he would not have considered attending Georgetown if he hadn’t been recruited for soccer. Yet his decision to come to Washington, D.C., was based primarily on the prestige of the university.

“When it came down to it and the decision was made to come here, it was actually largely just the sort of intrigue and prestige of Georgetown that brought me here as a school and not so much as a soccer program,” he says. “It was just such a cool, legendary place to get to go to that it was difficult to pass up.”

From D.C. to Dallas

Jefferson-Dow’s first season with the Hoyas was difficult, physically and personally, despite his success on the field. His four goals and five assists tied him for the team lead in points, but a nagging groin injury kept Jefferson-Dow in pain. Although he was a regular starter and contributor, by the end of the season, he was physically worn out.

Furthermore, Jefferson-Dow was frustrated with the way that Head Coach Keith Tabatznik ran the team, and he began to consider transferring. Southern Methodist showed interest in Jefferson-Dow when he was in high school, but he never made an official visit then. After going to see the campus in Dallas at the end of his first semester, Jefferson-Dow decided to leave Georgetown.

Southern Methodist is a powerhouse in men’s Division I soccer, with a current streak of 12 straight appearances in the NCAA tournament. Head Coach Schellas Hyndman, who is currently in his 30th year of college coaching, says that he built his team to be a professional organization, where accountability and communication are emphasized between team members, and between coaches and players.

The Mustangs’ coaching staff treated the players with respect and as adults, Jefferson-Dow said, and in response, the players behaved professionally.

Although Jefferson-Dow had to adjust to a level of play higher than Georgetown’s, Hyndman said he was excited to have him come to SMU as a midi-forward in 2003.

“He had all the ingredients to step up to the next level,” Hyndman said.

Offensively, Jefferson-Dow could score and make great passes, but he also had the intangibles: a great understanding of the game, great field vision and a passion for the game.

“What he brought to the team was more maturity, even though it was a new place for him,” Hyndman says.

Regardless of what he had found on the soccer pitch at SMU, Jefferson-Dow had left his heart on the Hilltop. He missed the challenge of Georgetown academics. To him, SMU was “more country club, less university.”

Welcome Back

Jefferson-Dow, a theology major, was so focused on his academics that he did not intend to play soccer at all when he returned to Georgetown in the fall of 2004.

But to Jefferson-Dow’s surprise, Coach Tabatznik had already talked to the Department of Athletics about putting him back on the team. After an NCAA red-shirt regulation due to his transfer, Jefferson-Dow finally returned to North Kehoe Field for the 2005 season. In his comeback season, Jefferson-Dow led the Hoyas with seven goals, including three game-winners. For his performance, he received a spot on the All-Big East honorable mention team, a Big East Academic All-Star award and the team offensive MVP award – the same award he won for his stellar freshman year at Georgetown.

Although he says he has no regrets about returning to Georgetown, Jefferson-Dow says that returning to the soccer team was not enjoyable until this year, when Brian Wiese took over as head coach after Tabatznik’s 22 years at the position.

“The new coaching staff this year has made all the difference,” Jefferson-Dow says. “It’s been a whole new world as far as playing is concerned.”

Although the Hoyas are struggling this season with a 5-10-0 overall record and 2-7-0 in the Big East, Wiese attributes the inevitable difficulties to the regime change. Jefferson-Dow says he believes that the coaching changes will lead Georgetown to have a competitive, top-notch soccer program on par with that of SMU in the future.

Although the Hoyas will not achieve their goal of qualifying for the NCAA tournament this fall, Jefferson-Dow will have helped to establish a professional culture as a leader and as an example for younger players.

“That’s a big legacy to leave a team,” Wiese says.

Jefferson-Dow has no immediate plans for after graduation, but Wiese, Hyndman and his teammates all agree that he has the talent, physical fitness and passion required to play professionally.

“[He is] a highlight-reel type player,” senior forward Ricky Schramm says. But more importantly, Schramm and senior defender Tim Convey agree that some of Jefferson-Dow’s most valuable contributions to the team have been his hard work off the field and his commitment to his teammates.

Looking back on his experience at Georgetown, Jefferson-Dow says he has enjoyed the hard work and the traditions that give it what he calls an intriguing aura.

“I’ve had a lot of Chicken Madness in my time,” Jefferson-Dow says, laughing. But for him, the most memorable parts of his Hilltop experience have been the friendships he has made – both on and off the soccer team – and the hard work he has dedicated to improving his academics.

“I will be proud to graduate from here next spring,” he said.

It’s trite, but it’s true. In his year away from the Hilltop, Jefferson-Dow learned what all Georgetown students eventually realize: Once a Hoya, forever a Hoya.