Nov. 5, 2021. The Pac-12 soccer world descends on Westwood for the Crosstown Showdown between No. 8 USC and No. 3 UCLA that will decide the conference title.
The Bruins take the night and the title — for the 13th time. USC head coach Keidane McAlpine rallies his team in the southwest corner as UCLA head coach Amanda Cromwell lifts yet another Pac-12 Championship trophy in front of the sellout crowd.
In the middle of the celebration is UCLA assistant coach Jane Alukonis, and while that moment was undoubtedly about that group of players, the ultimate importance of the night at large was not lost on Alukonis.
It never is.
“We were just pumped to have the stadium packed with a lot of young girls that could come and watch and be inspired by both teams,” she said, “and get a feel of what it would be like to one day play at ‘SC or UCLA and compete at one of the highest levels.”
Building up young girls has always been her goal. It’s a no-brainer for Alukonis, who was once one of those same young girls seeking a role model — someone who epitomized both the leader she has become and the inspirational players she has coached.
Alukonis was just 10 years old the day of the 1999 FIFA World Cup final — she would turn 11 just eight days later. It’s a day and a team that forever changed the women’s soccer landscape in the United States.
Ninety thousand in the Rose Bowl — still a women’s international record. Forty million on television — not matched by a men’s or women’s World Cup for more than a decade. The iconic Brandi Chastain celebration — gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated, TIME and many others.
Alukonis still clearly remembers watching on TV, jumping up and down as the United States prevailed in penalties. While Mia Hamm, of course, came to mind first, Alukonis has an endless gratitude for that entire U.S. team.
“I loved all of them, literally like every single player on the roster. They were my heroes,” Alukonis said. “I see them sometimes, either coaching or they bring their daughters to matches, and I love going up to them and telling them, ‘Oh, you’re my hero.’”
The ‘99ers taught Alukonis, and so many young girls like her, how to dream, how to believe they could play at the highest level.
“Without them, I don’t know where my playing or coaching even would have gone.”
Those larger-than-life figures that graced her television screen cemented Alukonis’ budding love for soccer. Later that year, she tried out for a youth team. She made it.
Alukonis’ new coach told her mother after the tryout that “she’s got something to her.”
“We lived on that,” Alukonis said in her first meeting with the USC team after being hired in January. “The fact that my coach told me that absolutely changed my life.”
Her mother got sick a year later, when Alukonis was just 12 years old, and she would lose her battle with cancer. Alukonis needed a space, and with the guidance of her coach, she was able to live in the game. Everyday, the workouts were structured, laid out for Alukonis. She would do these drills and train with that group — each day planned to get the best out of her.
It wasn’t until years later — when she began coaching with him — that Alukonis learned her mother had called her coach when she was sick, “grabbing him by the shirt” and imploring him to ensure her daughter succeeded.
Two decades after that tryout and meeting her coach, Alukonis is now an NCAA head coach. It’s a landing spot even beyond the assistant positions at Duke and UCLA she said her college self would have “died for.” But the transition from college athlete to coach wasn’t as streamlined as it seems.
“It’s funny. I resisted being a coach,” Alukonis said. “I knew that would be my dream job, but I also didn’t want to do it because I felt like ‘Oh I went to Duke. I need to go into banking or do something that was looked at as a big-time business job.’”
That Blue Devil pedigree did influence Alukonis post-graduation, guiding her toward the number one employer for Duke grads: Teach For America.
“They were on campus all the time,” Alukonis said with a laugh.
Alukonis spent three years with the nonprofit in Baltimore City, a decision she made to force herself outside her soccer-centric comfort zone.
“I knew I didn’t want to be a teacher,” Alukonis said. “But I’m a shy person, and I wanted something that would just throw me out in the deep water and force me to adapt and be comfortable in front of groups and be stern when I needed to.”
In her first meeting with the USC players, Alukonis spoke about her “why” — about her mother, about her coach. Her time with Teach For America is what brought that “why” to life. It’s what allowed that Duke-constructed hesitancy to give way to the love she had for her “why,” a love that has only strengthened on the journey to the USC post.
“I love seeing the players every day,” she said. “Everyone thanks the coach at the end of the season, and I’m like, ‘You guys are the ones that made me happy all year long. You’ve made me laugh.’ They’re just a pleasure to be around.”
Alukonis is now poised to lead these Trojans who came just one point shy of taking home their first-ever outright Pac-12 Championship and who have been eliminated from four of the last five NCAA Tournaments on penalty kicks.
The margin has been razor thin between the results and the ultimate goal for the USC program, an ultimate goal Alukonis believes this group is capable of attaining.
“I’m walking into the perfect situation,” Alukonis said. “We have the experience and the elite talent to win a national championship. Now it’s a matter of trying to get the most out of each of those, in the immediate and far future, to maximize how many championships we can win.”
Even in the midst of that pursuit, Alukonis never gets lost, never stops guiding, never loses sight of what she believes is her “why.”
Encouraging young girls to dream, as the ‘99ers did for her. Equipping young girls to grow and succeed, as her coach did for her. And providing young girls with the confidence to challenge themselves, as she did for herself.
That is Alukonis’ calling. That is her “why.”