SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State junior
Mia Jackson made a bit of history for the Hornets' women's soccer program on Monday after being named The Big West Offensive Player of the Week following her team's scintillating start to the 2026 campaign.
She becomes the first Sacramento State player to earn a Big West women's soccer weekly award and the first Hornet to earn one at the offensive end since Abigail Lopez did so in the Big Sky Conference on Oct. 8, 2024.
Jackson opened her account with a bang in her team's regular season opener against Pacific, scoring twice — including the eventual game-winner early in the second half — to help the Hornets to a commanding 5-2 win over the Tigers. They were the first two goals of the Atlanta native's collegiate career after attempting only one shot in 10 career matches at Troy University.
Her brace was the first two-goal performance by a Hornet since Aubrey Goodwill did so in a 2-2 draw with Cal State Bakersfield on Sept. 18, 2022.
Jackson's first goal came in the 16th minute to double the Sacramento State lead, taking a short feed in traffic from teammate
Lexi Schroeder and finishing on the right foot for a 2-0 lead. The junior then added her second just three minutes into the second half, deftly taking the ball away from a Pacific defender and looping a high-arcing attempt over the goalkeeper's head that deflected off the back post and bounced in for the 3-0 advantage.
Three days later, Jackson played 61 minutes in a 1-0 road win over Causeway rival UC Davis, helping the Hornets defeat their rivals for the first time since 2017.
Having opened the season with a 2-0 record for the second straight season and only the fourth time in school history, Sacramento State remains on the road for two more against local rivals this week. The Hornets travel to the Bay Area to face San Francisco on Thursday (Aug. 20) at 6 p.m., before trekking up I-80 to take on Nevada on Sunday (Aug. 23) in Reno, Nev, at Noon.
