Boston College women’s soccer alumna Allyson Swaby to make second Women’s World Cup appearance with Jamaica

Boston College women’s soccer alumna Allyson Swaby was recently named to Team Jamaica’s squad for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Swaby, an American-born Jamaican player, played defense for the Boston College Eagles from 2014-2017. Prior to BC, she played at William Hall High School in Connecticut. She captained her high school squad as a senior and earned numerous state and regional honors.

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Swaby was an immediate impact player for BC, starting all 19 games as a freshman and earning All-ACC Freshmen team honors. An injury took her out of a handful of games as a sophomore, but she still started 14 games and scored the game-winner in the Eagles’ game against Columbia.

Swaby also started all games she played in as both a junior and senior, playing 1500 total minutes her junior season and 1815 total minutes in her final year at BC. She captained the team her senior year alongside Lauren Berman and graduated BC with 2 goals, 3 assists, and 6299 minutes. She is remembered as one of the best defenders in program history.

After graduating from the Carroll School of Management, Swaby headed overseas to begin her professional career. In 2018, she went to Iceland to play for the third division team Fjarðab/Höttur/Leiknir. She had a short stay in Iceland before traveling over to Italy as a midseason addition to A.S. Roma. She quickly became a starting player for Roma, playing both centre-back and full-back. Over the seasons, she earned a reputation as one of Roma’s most consistent players, and she was one of the first players to be offered a multi-year contract with the team. In 2021, she helped lead Roma to the program’s first ever Italian Women’s Cup.

At the end of 2021, it was announced that Swaby would be joining the newest NWSL team, Angel City FC. She signed a 2 year contract with Angel City, but after one year and 2 appearances with the team, she was loaned to Paris Saint-Germain.

On an international level, Swaby made her first appearance with Jamaica in 2018 during the CONCACAF Women’s Championship. She also played for the Reggae Girlz in their qualifying run for the 2019 Women’s World Cup as well as in the 2019 Women’s World Cup itself. During the 2019 World Cup, Swaby played every minute.

A leader throughout her career, she earned the honor of being Jamaica’s team captain in 2021, and she was the Jamaica Football Federation’s 2021 female player of the year. In keeping with her leadership, Swaby has joined fellow Team Jamaica players in criticizing the Jamaica Soccer Federation in the lead-up to this World Cup.

2023 marks Swaby’s second straight Women’s World Cup appearance. On Instagram, Swaby noted that this ”has been the most challenging year of [her] professional career” and stated that this has made being named to the roster even more special. This will also be the second straight appearance for her younger sister Chantelle Swaby, a Rutgers alumna.