Jennifer Marie Ruiz Brown (born 9 August 1983), known in the United States as Jenny Ruiz-Williams, is a US-born Mexican

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former professional player who played as a defender. She is currently the head coach of the

UNLV Rebels The UNLV Rebels are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The Rebels compete in the NCAA Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision for college football) as a member of the Mountain West Confer ...

women's soccer team. As a player, Ruiz-Williams played for

Seattle Reign FC OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

(NWSL) and the

Mexico women's national football team The Mexico women's national football team represents Mexico on the international stage. The squad is governed by the Mexican Football Federation and competes within CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Associatio ...

Early life

Ruiz-Williams was born in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

and attended

Corona High School Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

Corona, California Corona (Spanish for "Crown") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 157,136, up from 152,374 at the 2010 census. The cities of Norco and Riverside lie to the north and north ...

. At Corona, she was a Mountain View All-League selection and three-time MVP. In 1998, she was selected to the 1998 Mountain View First Team. She played with the Olympic Development Program district and state team in 1998 and 1999. In 2001, she was named Citrus Belt 2001 Athlete of the Year and 2001 Corona-NorCo District Athlete of the Year. In 2000, Ruiz-Williams played with the Southern California Blues U-16 and helped the team win a national title. She helped the Southern California Blues U-17 team place second at the National Championship.

College career

Ruiz-Williams attended the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

and played for its women's soccer team from 2001 to 2004. During her freshman year in 2001, she played in 20 games of the season with one start against Kansas in which she scored two goals. She scored a last-minute goal against league rival

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

in the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

championship game. In 2003, as part of the team's defense that allowed just 27 goals the entire season, Ruiz-Williams helped the team tie the school record. She was named to both the All-MWC Second Team, and to the MWC All-Tournament Team. In 2004, Ruiz-Williams started 18 of 18 games (missing one game due to a red card) and led a defense that only allowed 15 goals all season (0.76 per game). She was named to the Soccer Buzz Team All-Region, First Team All Mountain West Conference, and First Team Mountain West Conference Tournament teams.

Club career

Bay Area Breeze

From 2011 to 2012, Ruiz-Williams played for the

Bay Area Breeze Bay Area Breeze was a professional American women's soccer team. Founded in 2011, the team was based in Hayward, California. The team played in the Western Conference of the W-League. The team's colors were blue, white and green. History The Bay ...

in the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). T ...

. As captain of the 2012 team, she scored four goals and started all 10 games in the WPSL season and all 4 games during the UK tour. Ruiz-Williams led an offense from the attacking midfield position that went 4–0 on the UK tour. She scored a goal and had an assist in the team's 2–0 victory over

Liverpool L.F.C. Liverpool Football Club Women is an English women's football club, founded in 1989 as ''Newton LFC'' and subsequently renamed ''Knowsley United WFC'' and ''Liverpool Ladies''. A founding member of the top-tier FA Women's Super League in 2011, L ...

During the 2011 season with the Breeze, Ruiz-Williams signed for the last game of the season and playoffs and helped the team win the WPSL Pacific North Division Championship.

Seattle Reign FC

In 2013, as part of the

NWSL Player Allocation The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) federation players were players whose salaries for playing in the NWSL were paid for by their respective national federations from 2013 to 2021. American federation players were contracted to the United Sta ...

, Ruiz-Williams joined

in the NWSL. She made seven appearances for the club during the inaugural season, tallying 386 minutes on the defensive line.

International career

As of December 2012, Ruiz-Williams has 22 caps with the

and three goals. She began training with the

in 2003 and played in the 2003 Australia Cup. She had seven full international caps for the team that qualified for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. In 2011, after a seven-year hiatus from soccer, Ruiz-Williams returned to the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

and scored the game-winning goal against Colombia in the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

, resulting in the team winning the bronze medal. This was Mexico's second bronze medal for women's soccer at the Pan American Games. In January 2012, Ruiz-Williams represented Mexico at the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers in Vancouver, British Columbia, scoring two goals and providing one assist.

Coaching career

In June 2012, Ruiz-Williams was a guest coach at the Julie Foudy Leadership Academy. She also coached for the Palo Alto Soccer Club, until she moved to Tennessee. Ruiz-Williams became the head coach at her alma mater in December 2019. She previously served as assistant coach at

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

and

CSUN Matadors The Cal State Northridge Matadors (branded as the CSUN Matadors) are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Northridge in Northridge, Los Angeles, California. The Matadors field 17 teams in nineteen sports. The Matadors co ...

Personal

Ruiz-Williams is married to Kevin Williams and together they are parents of two children. During a hiatus from soccer after graduating from UNLV, Ruiz-Williams taught two years in the inner-city of Los Angeles, California with Teach for America (AmeriCorps). She later moved to Brazil, where her second child was born, and worked alongside her husband as Christian missionaries in the interior of the country.

References

External links

*
Profile
at

Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (; abbreviated as Femexfut or FMF) is the governing body of association football in Mexico. It adm the Mexico national team, the Liga MX and all affiliated amateur sectors, and controls promoting, organizing, direc ...

* *
UNLV player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz-Williams, Jenny 1983 births Living people Citizens of Mexico through descent Mexican women's footballers Mexico women's international footballers Footballers at the 2011 Pan American Games 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players National Women's Soccer League players OL Reign players American women's soccer players UNLV Rebels women's soccer players Soccer players from California People from Anaheim, California American sportspeople of Mexican descent Women's association football midfielders Women's association football defenders Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games medalists in football Pan American Games bronze medalists for Mexico Teach For America alumni Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games