Valley grad Jordan Kirkwood settles in quickly with Saint Vincent women's soccer team

Jordan Kirkwood has a tattoo on her right knee. It’s a set of open skeleton jaws that engulfs her kneecap.

There’s no real meaning behind it, the Valley grad said. She just thought it looked cool.

Same with her other less-frequently-visible tattoo: some birds etched across her collarbone.

Kirkwood has looked pretty cool — and, yes, calm and collected — during the early part of her freshman soccer season at Saint Vincent. She started all eight matches for the young Bearcats and helped them go 5-3, 1-1 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

The forward contributed a pair of goals and an assist to the effort.

“I would say it’s going really well so far,” Kirkwood said. “I think the team as a whole is doing really well and developing really well. And, personally, being able to start is definitely a big step for me.”

Asked about getting to start in her first collegiate match, Kirkwood couldn’t contain a little laugh that was equal parts modesty and pride. It was an honor she said she didn’t expect, even given the youthful makeup of the Bearcats roster.

“I was actually just kind of speechless,” she said. “I was so excited. It was super big for me, and my dad was really proud, so that was the best part of it.”

While Kirkwood might have been surprised at her quick rise in the team’s pecking order, second-year coach Bryan Butler probably was less so.

Butler took over the program in January 2022, and, by that time, roughly half of the incoming class of recruits had committed under the previous regime. So Kirkwood and the other 10 ladies in her class were Butler’s first full class.

Butler said he immediately was impressed by what he saw in Kirkwood the first time he watched her play during a scouting trip: speed, toughness and what he called “dynamic ability one (on) one.” But there were intangible qualities about her that also caught his attention.

“Her quality as a person was just great,” said Butler, who played collegiately at Geneva. “She wants to do the right things, wants to work hard. Her mindset was just different. She’s that kid who says, ‘Hey, push me. Challenge me. I don’t want to settle. I want to get better.’

“That’s a huge quality to have in any player at this level. If things don’t go right for her, she doesn’t freak out. She doesn’t panic.”

There’s that “cool” part.

But Kirkwood said she wasn’t always so even-keeled. In high school before big matches, she said, the nerves would kick in.

Ultimately, it didn’t affect her performance — she scored 19 goals as a senior at Valley — but she knew it was something she would have to overcome to succeed at the college level. The figurative flip of a switch allowed her to let mistakes and pressure pass without incident.

She said it has helped to be surrounded by so many other younger players who are going through the same adjustments as her. Along with the 11 freshmen, the Bearcats have eight sophomores.

“I just think I’m pretty consistent in the way I play,” she said, “and if I mess up, I am able to just get myself right back on track and get going.

“In high school, if I messed up, I would always get down on myself. I knew coming into college, I needed to be better personally so I could help the team out.”

She helped out right away. Her first collegiate goal was the only one of the game — off an assist from Tanisha Grewal, one of three seniors on the team — in a nonconference win over Pitt-Greensburg in the third match of the season.

It was the return of a favor by the Saint Vincent captain. In the previous match, against Hiram, Kirkwood assisted Grewal on the match’s opening goal. It turned out to be the only one the Bearcats needed in a 3-0 win.

She added her second goal in a 7-0 rout of La Roche. But that first one stood out, particularly the reaction.

“It was super exciting having everybody come up to me and Tanisha, having her come up and hug me, it was such an overwhelming feeling,” Kirkwood said.

Entering the week of Sept. 25, the Bearcats already were only one victory from matching their overall total from 2022, as well as their PAC win total from last season.

A 1-0 loss to Westminster and a 2-1 win over W&J in the first two conference games offered evidence of the strides the program has made. Westminster was picked as the favorite to win the PAC title. The Titans scored in the third minute of the match, but Saint Vincent played them even the rest of the way.

The Presidents, meanwhile, were picked one spot above Saint Vincent. It’s a sign, Kirkwood said, that the young team is growing up fast.

“I think we had the potential to beat Westminster,” she said. “Then, beating W&J, that was a big win for us and put us on the right path. I have high expectations for this team. I think all of us girls are bonding really well and really starting to get close with each other and really get that chemistry on the field.”

There’s a long way to go for the young Bearcats this season and in the next couple as the players continue to jell and improve their performance.

The same might be said for Kirkwood. Off to a fine start, she is focused on becoming more consistent as she continues to grow into the college game.

“I definitely feel more confident knowing that I can actually play with these girls and keep up,” she said. “I think I can really develop and become a big part of this team and do a lot for this team, so, hopefully, I can stick with that.”

That certainly would be cool.