Rose’s historic Harvard football education   | OneFootball

Jade Rose arrives at Manchester City with a growing reputation as one of world football’s most exciting talents.

The versatile defender has become the Club’s first summer addition, penning a four-year deal which will keep her at the Joie Stadium until 2029.

Her impressive career to date has been built on academic and sporting foundations laid at the prestigious Harvard University.

It was there where she refined her skills for Harvard Crimson in the Ivy League system while also starring for Canada’s senior side.

Perhaps best to describe the collegiate system in the states is Jade herself, who explained: “The collegiate game is very different than to the international stages. We play a very short season, it’s only August through to November and December.

“So, it’s a very short season, you have the Spring to train and focus more on the individual side of the game, so what you need to improve on is usually what the Spring is used for.

“It’s only four years so also a short cycle you could say and there’s this constant cycle of players coming in and out because you have an entire class that graduates at the end of the year, so the team shifts and changes year to year.

“I think that’s very different to other environments. Harvard offered a very unique environment in that it attracted players from across the world and half of our team was international.

“That’s another thing that attracted me to Harvard, the opportunity to learn from other players. One of my teammates Josefine Hasbo plays on the Danish national team and we have a couple of girls who play on the Icelandic national team.

“Being able to learn from different players around the world was definitely a plus Harvard had.”

Rose was first approached by the coaching staff at Harvard Crimson in 2018 about a future place in their programme before the defender committed to join the university for the 2021/22 school year.

She then wasted little time in making her mark during the early stages of her maiden year, helping Crimson to consecutive clean sheets in a 1-0 win over Fairfield and a 3-0 triumph away at Boston University where she scored her first in the collegiate system.

Rose’s side remained unbeaten across their following eight matches with City’s newest recruit starting each of those assignments, netting the winner in a 2-1 triumph over Northeastern.

At the conclusion of her first year at Harvard, the 22-year-old had tallied 15 appearances – starting each of those games – and totalled the second most minutes across Crimson’s squad.

Following her fantastic maiden year at the university, she earned a swathe of accolades including first-team All-Ivy honours and being named in Top Drawer Soccer’s First-year Best XI.

Approaching her sophomore year, Rose had already cemented her place as one of Crimson’s most influential and important players and her sparkling stock continued to rise by the campaign’s end.

Across her 11 appearances, she tasted defeat only once and perhaps her standout display came in a 5-0 thrashing of Columbia Lions where she not only produced a colossal display to maintain a clean sheet but also registered two assists.

Again, Rose’s outstanding performances were acknowledged as she was named Third Team All-American by United Soccer Coaches and became the first player in collegiate programme history to be named Ivy League’s Defensive Player of the Year.

A further 16 appearances and more accolades followed across her Junior year, which represented the most productive spell of her career at the time with a goal and four assists across those outings.

What’s more, she also helped her team to seven clean sheets across the term en route to winning Ivy League’s Defensive Player of the Year for a second time, with Crimson also allowing the third-fewest shots on goal across the country.

By the time the defender entered her Senior, and final, year she had already etched her name in the school and Ivy League’s history books, but she did so again when becoming only the eighth player in programme history to earn four First Team All-Ivy League honours.

Once again, her productivity improved when netting one goal and registering five assists by the term’s end but this time in just 11 outings, with international football and academic commitments limiting her Crimson appearances.

Her display in a 4-2 win away at Milwaukee earned special praise too when she registered two assists and netted, with her goal featured as the No.1 play on SportCentre’s top plays of the day in September 2024.

The environment at Harvard has certainly prepared Rose for the challenges of English football and she explained how she believes City’s ethos will only help her improve further.

Rose added: “I chose Harvard because education has always been a massive part of my life and my journey.

“I think having something to fall back on as a women’s footballer is important and because it’s something I value. When Harvard came in with an offer it is a hard school to say no to.

“Education’s always been really important to my family and when that opportunity came along it was really hard to say no to.

“The coaching staff treated me like I was one of their own children and that prioritisation really felt like home. That’s the same feeling I felt when talking to City and I think that’s why I knew this was the right decision.”

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