This past fall, Jael-Marie Guy ’29 arrived on College Hill to play for the Brown women’s soccer team. This spring, she’s taking her second semester of college off to play for the Philippines women’s national football team.
Now that Guy is playing on the international stage, her days look very different. Instead of balancing classes and practice in Providence, Guy’s days now consist of physical screenings, physical therapy, recovery work, training and team meetings.
Guy’s “big picture goal” is to qualify for the World Cup, especially because the Philippines team has only competed in the tournament once before.
She said the national team is focused on “staying connected as a unit, being optimistic and trying to win as many games as we can.” Last Sunday, the team advanced to the quarterfinals in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia — a World Cup-qualifying tournament.
Guy was called up to the senior team in November and only a month later, the team won in a comeback match in the Southeast Asian Games to win the Philippines its first-ever gold medal at the tournament.
Guy said that playing for the Philippines national team has been “unreal.”
“It takes a lot of time to process, but I’m just really grateful, and I try to soak in all the moments that I have here,” Guy said.
Guy’s mom was born in the Philippines, and she is a Filipina citizen herself, so it had been “a dream” of hers to represent the nation on their women’s soccer team.
Guy’s parents are both in the military, so she moved a lot during her childhood. In many ways, soccer was a constant. “It was a way of making friends anytime that I went to a new place,” she said.
During her junior year of high school, Guy came to a soccer clinic that Brown hosted for high school prospects, where she met Kia McNeill, the head coach for the Brown women’s soccer team.
“She really stood out at the clinic,” McNeill wrote in an email to The Herald, noting Guy’s speed and creativity on the field.
“From a soccer perspective, I love the fact that Jael really wants to learn,” McNeill wrote. “She’s hungry for knowledge and always looking for ways to improve her game, and she’s not afraid to ask questions if she needs more clarity.”
After considering offers from several schools — and visiting Providence a final time — Guy committed to Brown.
This fall, Guy embarked on her first semester as a student-athlete at Brown. “I was just so excited to come (to Brown)” she said. “When I finally came here and started this semester here, it was exactly how I hoped.”
Having played competitive soccer her whole life, Guy said she felt equipped to balance school and her sport, adding that support from her friends, family, coaches and professors “made it much easier to keep everything balanced.”
Guy has a “very inviting, personable personality, which probably explains why she has only been on campus for one semester but already seems to have so many friends,” McNeill added.
Rylee Keeley ’28 is one of Guy’s teammates and “best friends.” From their first meeting, Keeley “was able to see the kind of person Jael would be,” she wrote in an email to The Herald. “She’s one of my favorite people to hang out with because I know I’ll laugh and smile for the majority of the hangout.”
Keeley wrote that she can also rely on Guy on the field “to put her best foot forward and always give her 100%.”
“I love getting to watch her live out her soccer dreams and thrive at the international level, but I also miss her a ton and can’t wait ’till I get to see her again,” Keeley wrote.
Rebecca Goodman is a university news senior staff writer covering career and alumni. She is a junior from Cambridge, MA, studying English. Outside of writing, you can find her at the Avon or in the basement of the Rock.
