Natalie Ann Jacobs (born August 16, 1997) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who last played as a defender for the Houston Dash.

Early life

Jacobs grew up in Coto de Caza, California. She is the daughter of Jeff and Teresa Jacobs. Her father captained the

U.S. Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Unit ...

soccer team. Jacobs was a 2013 and 2014 NSCAA Youth All-American. She played club soccer for Slammers FC and graduated from Tesoro High School in 2015.

Notre Dame

Jacobs played for

Notre Dame Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, th ...

2015-2017. In her freshman season, she played in 20 games and made 15 starts for the Irish. Jacobs scored five goals and notched five assists, including a game-winning assist to beat No. 1 ranked Virginia. She was named to the All-ACC Freshman Team and to TopDrawerSoccer.com's Freshman Best XI Second Team. She sat out the 2016 season to play in the

U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 wh ...

with the United States. In 2017, as a redshirt sophomore, she led the Irish in goals, scoring 13 goals and 7 assists. Jacobs also played a team-high of 1,745 minutes, appearing in 22 games for the Irish. She led the ACC in conference goals and was named to the all-ACC second team.

University of Southern California

Jacobs transferred to the University of Southern California in 2018. As a redshirt junior, she played in all 22 games, making 17 starts for the Trojans. She scored 5 goals and made 2 assists, including a goal in each of her first two games. In her final season, she played in all 23 games and made 21 starts for the Trojans. She scored four goals and led the team with nine assists. The Trojans advanced the quarterfinals of the NCAA quarterfinals where Jacobs scored against the University of North Carolina but ultimately the Tar Heels defeated the Trojans 3–2.

Club career

Washington Spirit

In the

2020 NWSL College Draft The 2020 NWSL College Draft was the eighth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select newly eligible college players for the 2020 NWSL season. It was held on January 16, 2020 in conjunction with the United Soc ...

, the Washington Spirit drafted Jacobs with the 13th overall pick. Jacobs made her NWSL debut in the

2020 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup was a tournament during the 2020 National Women's Soccer League season to mark the league's return to action from the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first professional team sports event to return to play in United States. ...

on July 1, 2020. She played in 7 games of the Spirit's 9 games during the abbreviated 2020 season. Overall she earned 5 starts and played a total of 397 minutes. Jacobs signed a new, two-year contract with the Spirit after the 2020 season and she joined the team for preseason in February 2021.

Houston Dash

Jacobs was with the Dash briefly in 2022.

References

External links

Notre Dame profile

USC profile

Natalie Jacobs on Twitter

Natalie Jacobs on Instagram
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Natalie 1997 births Living people American women's soccer players Soccer players from California People from Coto de Caza, California Women's association football utility players Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's soccer players USC Trojans women's soccer players Washington Spirit draft picks Washington Spirit players United States women's under-20 international soccer players National Women's Soccer League players