Northern's Jones named Big Ten Freshman of the Week

Needless to say, Port Huron Northern alum Hannah Jones made her mark in the Blue Water Area on the soccer field.

As a four-time Times Herald Player of the Year and a back-to-back Gatorade Michigan Player of the Year, Jones who graduated from Northern in the spring is arguably the best player in the area’s history.

Now, just 12 games into her collegiate career at Michigan State, she’s already making her mark in the Big Ten Conference.

After netting a hat trick in a 3-2 double overtime win over Maryland last Thursday, the Big Ten named Jones the conference’s Freshman of the Week.

“It was just a really exciting time to represent my team like that,” Jones said, looking back on her stellar performance.

Jones – who scored her first goal of her MSU career on Sept. 11 in a 2-0 over Detroit – scored twice in the second half against Maryland to help push the game to overtime. In the 107th minute of the game, Jones ripped a shot atop the 18 yard box and found the inside of the left post for the win.

In front of a home crowd she was mobbed with hugs by her teammates after what was undoubtedly the best game of her young career thus far.

“It was probably one of the coolest moments of my life,” Jones said. “Just wearing that jersey and having my teammates happy for me on the home field too was great.”

After starting in all 12 of the Spartans games as a freshman, Jones is tied for most goals on the team with four, also adding an assist to her name as well. It’s clear Jones has already come on the scene strong in East Lansing, but even she admits she had to up her physicality on the field to hang with the college level of play.

“It started off not as well as I wanted to,” Jones said. “I had to get used to the level of play and I needed to bring that level every game.”

As Jones and the Spartans season makes a turn into the home stretch, the team wants to keep building momentum and improvement off their 5-6-1 overall record. However, Jones is confident her new team will finish on a strong note.

“This is the year we will be making it into the postseason,” she said.

Contact Matt Sheehan at (810)-989-6267 or msheehan@gannett.com.