@fullname - @sport - University of Tennessee Athletics

Jaida Thomas

Class:
Redshirt Senior
Hometown:
Dallas, Texas
High School:
Bishop Lynch

CAREER HONORS

2023 United Soccer Coaches Players to Watch List
2023 SEC Preseason Watch List
No. 40 on Top Drawer Soccer's Postseason Top 100 (12/15/22)
2022 United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region Second Team
2022 All-SEC First Team
2022 SEC Soccer Community Service Team
No. 21 on Top Drawer Soccer's Midseason Top 100 (10/20/22)
SEC Offensive Player of the Week (10/3/22)
Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI First Team
2021 Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll
#41 on Top Drawer Soccer Postseason Top 100
2021 United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-America
2021 United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region First Team
2021 SEC All-Tournament Team
2021 All-SEC Second Team
2021 Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll
TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week (10/5/21)
2020-21 United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region First Team
SEC Freshman of the Week (3/8/21)
SEC Freshman of the Week (3/1/21)
SEC Offensive Player of the Week (2/22/21)
TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week (2/16/21)
2020 SEC All-Freshman Team
SEC Freshman of the Week (11/2/20)
SEC Freshman of the Week (9/28/20)

2024 - REDSHIRT SENIOR

Appeared in 19 games, starting four
Logged 633 minutes of action for the Lady Vols
Bagged her 40th career goal in the 21st minute against Missouri to propel the Lady Vols to a 1-0 victory; Thomas is now only the second Lady Vol to join the 40-plus goal club
Opened up her season with an assist to Kate Runyon to score the second goal in a 3-0 win against Lipscomb (8/25)

2023 - REDSHIRT SENIOR

Ranks second on Tennessee's all-time goals list with 39; Kylee Rossi (2005-08) holds the program record with 43 career goals.
Her goals-per-game average of .66 ranks second in the Tennessee record book, trailing only Bunny Shaw (.77) and Alison Campbell (.70).
Her 11 career game-winning goals are tied for fourth-most in program history.
Scored a goal against Indiana to move her career total to 39 before suffering a season-ending injury.

2022 - REDSHIRT JUNIOR

First-team All-SEC performer led the Lady Vols with 13 goals and 28 points on the year.
Averaged .68 goals per game to rank first in the SEC and 12^th in the nation
Started all 19 matches and ranked second on the team in shots (54) and shots on goal (30) while logging 1,255 minutes played.
Scored Tennessee's lone goal in the season-ending loss to Xavier in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament (11/11/22), receiving a ball played in by Tara Katz with her back to the goal before turning a defender and volleying it into the far left corner of the net.
Drilled home a cross from Taylor Huff in the 78th minute of Tennessee's 2-0 victory at Georgia (10/9/22), extending her goal streak to four consecutive matches; Thomas also helped set up the deciding goal in the 77th minute, when her close-range shot deflected off the keeper and was booted home by Claudia Dipasupil.
After Mackenzie George won a hard-fought ball in the 88th minute vs. Missouri (10/6/22) and sent a cross toward the goal, Thomas redirected it past the keeper for her 11th goal of the season.
Unleashed five shots during Tennessee's 1-0 win at No. 13 Ole Miss (9/30/22), the last of which was a header off a Claudia Dipasupil serve that found the back of the net for the 11th game-winning goal of Thomas's career; for her efforts, Thomas was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week.
Moved into sole possession of second place on UT's all-time goals list when Claudia Dipasupil served a ball into the box and Thomas buried it in the back of the net from eight yards out in the first half of Tennessee's 4-1 win at Kentucky (9/25/22); it was Thomas's 34th career goal.
Assisted on Tennessee's first goal of SEC play, delivering a spot-on pass that was driven home by Mackenzie George in the 19th minute of UT's 2-1 conference-opening win at Florida (9/16/22).
Scored a goal for the sixth consecutive match when she smoothly booted home a rebound off the keeper—following a shot by Maddie Eskin—during the first half of Tennessee's shutout victory over Queens University of Charlotte (9/11/22); the goal was the 33rd of Thomas' career, tying her with Hannah Wilkinson for second place on the program's all-time list.
For the second time in three matches, she logged a brace during UT's shutout win over Kennesaw State (9/8/22); her first goal of the match opened the night's scoring, and her second goal—set up by a pinpoint cross from Maddie Eskin in the 44th minute—gave the Lady Vols a 2-0 lead.
Ran her streak of consecutive matches with a goal to four when she knocked down a cross from Mackenzie George and volleyed a shot into the top right corner from 12 yards out during UT's 7-0 win over Tennessee Tech (9/4/22); Thomas also assisted on a Jordan Fusco goal in the 53rd minute of the triumph.
Scored a brace in Tennessee's 4-0 triumph over Bowling Green (8/31/22); her two goals propelled her from sixth place to a tie for third place on UT's career goals list, with 29. The goals came 19 seconds apart in the 64th and 65th minutes, and both were assisted by Taylor Huff.
Gave the Lady Vols a 1-0 lead over #5 Duke (8/25/22) when she found the end of a cross by Maria Nelson, one-touching a shot past the Duke keeper from six yards out.
Her first goal of the season—the 26th of her career—came in Tennessee's home-opening 1-1 draw against #23 SMU (8/21/22), as she tapped in a Hannah Zaluski corner kick from close range in the 60th minute.

2021 - REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE

Amassed 25 goals over her first two active seasons on Rocky Top, cracking the top 10 in career goals. She will enter her junior season trailing Tennessee's all-time goals leader, Kylee Rossi, by 18 and second-place Hannah Wilkinson by just eight.
Finished her sophomore campaign with a team-high 13 goals on the season, tying Bunny Shaw and Kylee Rossi for third on UT's all-time single-season list and ranking first among sophomores.
With 31 points on the season, she ranked second among UT sophomores and tied Emily Dowd, Rhian Wilkinson and Kim Patrick at eighth all-time.
Tallied five goals and an assist during UT's SEC Championship run.
Is the only Tennessee player to record braces in multiple SEC Championship games during a career.
Logged seven goals over five games, spanning from Georgia on Oct. 24 through the SEC Championship game on Nov. 7.
Found Jordan Fusco in the box to record an assist on UT's second goal against Florida (10/7/21)
Led UT to a come-from-behind win at Texas A&M, scoring two of Tennessee's three goals, including the game winner (10/1/21)
Scored Tennessee's first goal in its 2-1 double-overtime victory at Mizzou (9/26/21)
Added her third goal of the season in the 61st minute against Chattanooga (9/12/21)
Knocked in the game winner against Tennessee Tech, redirecting a cross from Tara Katz 16 minutes into the game.
Scored UT's first goal of the 2021 season, just two minutes into the match against Florida Gulf Coast (8/19/21).
Spent the 2021-22 academic year enrolled in Tennessee Athletics' VOLeaders Academy leadership curriculum, culminating in a summer trip to Rwanda.

2020-21 - REDSHIRT FRESHMAN

Led the Vols with 12 goals and five game-winners in her first season on the active roster
Her five game-winning goals were the most ever recorded by a Tennessee freshman
Took home her program-record fourth SEC Freshman of the Week award following a brace against Wake Forest (3/6/21)
Scored twice against Wake Forest (3/6/21) to help the Vols secure their fourth-straight victory
Recorded her third-straight multi-goal performance against Xavier (2/28/21), netting two goals in the 3-1 win over
Logged her second-straight multi-goal performance with a brace and an assist in UT's 7-0 rout at App State (2/20/21)
Doubled her season's tally with a hat trick in the spring opener vs. Gardner-Webb (2/14/21)
Led the team with three goals during the fall semester, each going down as game-winners
Added her third game-winning goal of the 2020 campaign at Florida (10/30/20), scoring on a header off Claudia Dipasupil's corner kick service
Recorded a season-high six shots at Kentucky (10/18/20), putting five on frame
Tallied the game-winning goal as UT picked up its second win of the season over Missouri (10/9/20)
Scored her first career goal in overtime against No. 10 Vanderbilt (9/27/20)
Made her Tennessee debut in the season opener at Alabama (9/19/20), coming off the bench and playing for 32 minutes

2019 - REDSHIRT

Thomas redshirted and did not compete during the 2019 season.

HIGH SCHOOL/CLUB

First signee to submit her NLI for Tennessee’s 2019 recruiting class
TAPPS 6A Athlete of Year
Scored the game-winning goal with four minutes remaining in the championship match to secure the first state title for Bishop Lynch High School since 2015
2018 first-team All-State, first-team All-District, TAPPS All-Tournament Team, District MVP
Ranked as the No. 11 forward and the No. 44 player overall on the IMG Academy 150 for the Class of 2019
Four-year letter winner in basketball, earning first-team All-State accolades as a senior and helping her high school team capture a state championship as a sophomore

PERSONAL

Jaida Elondra Thomas was born Dec. 25, 2000
Daughter of Chiann and Willie Thomas
Occasionally goes by the nickname, "Stallion."
Completed her degree in Agricultural Leadership, Education & Communication in May of 2022.
Recipient of the Carolyn C. & Larry G. Templeton Women's Soccer Scholarship Endowment