University of Tennessee Athletics
2024 Soccer Roster
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Jersey Number 2
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 12th 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
SOC | Joe Kirt Postgame vs. Alabama (10.26.25)
Sunday, October 26
SOC | Robinson & Runyon Postgame vs. Alabama (10.26.25)
Sunday, October 26
Everything Orange S3 | Ally Brown (Soccer)
Friday, October 17
SOC | Miller & Davis Postgame vs. Florida (10.16.25)
Thursday, October 16
