By: Matt Rothman
Getting the chance to play college soccer is a blessing for anyone, but former Marjory Stoneman Douglas athlete Jordan Ross almost didn’t have the opportunity.
If it wasn’t for a schedule change. Ross, who graduated in 2019, was supposed to be in a different classroom on February 14, 2018.
In her assigned seat was Nicholas Dworet —one of 17 people killed in the mass shooting.
“I signed next to him on national signing day,” Ross said of Dworet, a University of Indianapolis swimming commit. “We had just talked a week before about how excited we were for college. There was a lot of guilt knowing that if I were still in that classroom, I wouldn’t be here today.”
After finishing her time as one of the best players ever on the MSD soccer team, Ross went on to play at Stetson University. In honor of the 17 victims, she began wearing the number 17.
Through her first years in college, Ross has been one of the top players on her team. As a freshman, she made nine starts and appeared in all 17 games. Her first goal came against the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), and she also finished the season with an assist against Georgia Southern.
The following season, she once again played in all 17 games, making 15 starts and logging over 1,100 minutes, and was a part of the ASUN Honor Roll as a junior.
Through the team’s first nine games of 2021, Stetson matched their win total of the previous two years. The Hatters are now 5-8-2 with wins over Mercer, Alabama State, South Carolina State, Bellarmine, and Eastern Kentucky.
“Jordan worked very hard and was one of the most technical players we have had,” said MSD Head Coach Laura Rountree. “She made everybody around her better and was a fierce competitor on the field and a kind, compassionate person off the field, and I am extremely proud of her.”
Next, her team will be on the road when they face Kennesaw State on Thursday, October 14, at 7 p.m.
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