As it heads into the final stretch of the season, the Virginia women's soccer team is keeping an eye on the record books - junior goalkeeper Chantel Jones is just one shutout away from tying the Virginia career record for shutouts. After that, Jones will own or be tied for every school record a goalkeeper could have - pretty impressive for someone who didn't get a traditional start to the position.
Jones, who started playing soccer when she was 5 years old, was constantly playing until she reached the U-13 level, when her coach kicked her off her club team, saying, "She's not a good soccer player. She shouldn't play soccer anymore." Jones tried out for a rival club, but the only spot open was back-up goalkeeper. That didn't stop her.
"I was like OK, like I wanna be on this team, so I just started training and the rest is history, I guess," Jones said.
And what a history it has been. Jones currently is tied for first in shutouts and is second for goals against average, which is no mean feat considering the conference has produced 20 out of the sport's last 28 national champions. Technically in her junior year, Jones also took the 2008 season off to play for the U.S. team in the 2008 Women's U-20 World Cup.
"It was the experience of a lifetime, you know," Jones said. "We had tens of thousands of fans for every game, like, we were playing the best teams in the world, China and England, and then the final game winning the gold medal - I've never had an experience like that in my life. It was awesome. Standing up on the podium with your team, and the confetti's everywhere, and you're holding your medal and crying, it was so cool."
And even though Jones credits that experience with contributing significantly to her game - specifically regarding "professionalism, how to deal with the media, the fans" - at Virginia, the junior net-minder also places much of the credit closer to home.
"I would attribute a lot of those shutouts to my defense," Jones said. "It's great for me, and it looks good when you see my name under there, but it really should be an asterisk with all the defenders' names there too, you know, because they've saved my butt a lot of times from countless goals."
Highlighted by some of her infamous "death-stares" from the net, Jones certainly practices tough love with her defense.
"I'm pretty hard on them," Jones said. "But that's just because I know that we can be so good, and I've seen them make huge stops in practice and in other games, so when they have that little bit of lapse, I'm there to remind them that this is serious and to kind of focus back on the game."
But when she first came to Virginia as a freshman, her relationship with the backfield was perhaps one of her weaknesses.
"When I first came here I was a little bit of a hot-head, I guess you could say," Jones said. "[Coach] Steve [Swanson] has just been on me, and I've gotten so much better, getting more respect from my teammates just by being more calm and composed, and my defense responds a lot better to that."
The coaches, however, put the majority of the praise on Jones herself for the way she has evolved as a player.
"I think she deserves a lot of credit for that just in keeping an open mind and in trusting those around, her teammates and her coaches," Swanson said. "She's a competitive person and she's an emotional person, and I think she's learned to try to channel all that into being the best goalkeeper she can be, and that's been enjoyable to see that evolution because I think she's playing at a really high level right now, very high level."
Many of her instincts were gained watching Briana Scurry, the U.S. women's national team goalie during its 1999 World Cup and 2004 Olympic gold medal wins.
"Growing up watching Briana, who was always screaming at her defense, that's who I emulated, and that's not always how you can be," Jones said.
But Jones certainly wants to do a few things the way her idol Scurry did, and one of them is to have such a long career.
"The dream for me forever is to go to the World Cup or go to the Olympics and play on the full team and just play as long as I can because soccer is just like my passion, I love it more than anything," Jones said. "Hopefully I can be Briana Scurry, still playing. She just retired, but she's in her mid- to late 30s. I hope that could be me."
With one U-20 World Cup under her belt and on track for her best season yet, some might say she is well on her way.
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