After spending the previous two seasons at her alma mater as an assistant coach, Janae Braun enters her first season on the sidelines as an assistant with the Sacramento State women's program in 2025.
A two-year letter winner for the Aggies from 2018-19 after playing her first two collegiate seasons at Santa Clara, Braun joined the UC Davis prior to the 2023 season and assisted with all aspects of the program. Prior to that, she was a head coach at the ECNL level for Davis Legacy SC and worked with the California Storm Futsal Academy at the club level, while also serving as an assistant varsity coach at Davis High School.
Aside from her coaching experience, Braun also brings an extensive international and professional playing resume to the table along with her experience as a Division I student-athlete.
In college, Braun (nee Gonzalez) finished with four goals in her first two seasons with the Broncos, earning West Coast Conference All-Freshman and league all-academic team honors before transferring to UC Davis for her final two years. She scored eight times for the Aggies and was an All-Big West Conference first team selection as a senior in 2019, helping UC Davis to the conference tournament semifinals for only the second time in school history in 2018.
On the international stage, she represented Mexico on the U-17 Women's National Team in 2013, winning the U17 World Cup qualifying tournament for the first time in the nation's history, while leading the team in goals and assists. She was twice selected the player of the match following victories against El Salvador and Jamaica. From there, she helpd Mexico reach the quarterfinals of the U17 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica in 2014, leading the team in goals and assists while earning player of the match honors against China.
Her goal against the host nation in that tournament was selected FIFA's Best Goal of the tournament.
Following her collegiate career, Braun went on to play professionally in Mexico for Club America and Mazatlan FC in Liga MX, making her professional debut on Jan. 10, 2020. That year, she finished with a pair of goals and two assists for Club America over 15 matches, and started 15 of 16 matches for Mazatlan FC a year later.
Closer to home, she competed for the California Storm in the WPSL, earning Offensive MVP honors in 2021 and 2022 and Most Valuable Player honors in the championship in the latter.
She was also a member of the inaugural United States Futsal Team and competed in the 2025 CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers.
Braun graduated with a bachelor's degree in communication from UC Davis in 2019 and earned her master's degree in communication management from USC in 2022.
