"It's still pretty surreal to me even after all this time. Starting to hit me as it's coming up."
The Women's World Cup is just over a month away and Anteater Jessica Miclat is hoping to be part of it. Last year, she helped make the surreal possible by earning a World Cup berth for The Philippines, the first-ever for the country.
The star midfielder shined bright for UC Irvine from 2016-19 making All-Big West First Team as a senior. A consistent starter included in the starting XI 68 times in the 73 matches she played. A facilitator with seven career assists including four in her senior season and a two-assist match to help the team win 2-1 over Long Beach State. She spread her goalscoring around with a goal in each season for six in all scoring against programs like BYU, Texas A&M, and Cal. She had one game-winner, her very first career goal against UAB. She had a three-point game that same year to help to a 2-1 win over Hawai'i.
One of the few things that eluded Miclat was a postseason trip. The team took part in the Big West Championship tournament in three of her four seasons reaching the Big West Final once, but never broke through to the NCAAs. She let none of that deter her as seen with her efforts in the Philippines' run through Qualifiers.
For Miclat, she's always had that competitive drive, most likely being the youngest in her family with two older brothers.
"They paved the way for what I would do. My parents also threw us into sports and allowed us to figure out what we're good at so I'm thankful for them allowing us to play a bunch of different sports."
Jess raved about her basketball skills saying she possibly could have been a star in that sport, but she thinks she was just enough better at soccer. She grew up hooping with her older brother, but her first AYSO soccer game gave her an indication.
"My first game I scored like 10 goals and shocked my coaches, and my dad thought I should stick with that."
Seeing her brothers into their sports gave her the idea to follow in their footsteps. She got into club soccer when it really started to get serious around the age of eight, and the sports environment of her family fueled her to grow at the club level and eventually think college and pro soccer were in her cards.
Miclat played high school soccer both at St. Lucy's High School and Chino Hills High School. Her high school career wasn't so solid as Miclat characterized, but did well enough to get looks, and the toughest part may have been navigating the recruiting process.
"It's always been a big thing for female athletes and navigating that; going through it for the first time as a family was difficult, but luckily I committed to a Division I college that most people hope to do."
At first, Jess had eyes out of California and UC Irvine was not on her radar. Locally, Cal State Fullerton had the most interest early on as did Hawai'i and coach Nagamine, a good friend to this day.
"Coach Juniper called around the same time, and I was young and couldn't process everything that was happening around me. I took a visit to Irvine a week after the call and fell in love with the school. A big thing for me was more than just soccer and I know UCI had the academic standards. I wanted to excel on and off the field, and from the choices I had, UC Irvine fit me perfectly and was a main reason."
The cherry on top was the campus being the perfect spot – close enough to home to visit family and have them travel to matches, but some distance to do the college thing.
"Still being able to have support from friends and family close by was great. At UCI, the resources we had as student-athletes were amazing – the academic center, tutoring, registration was a big thing because my friends that weren't athletes struggled with that, and I don't know what I would have done without that."
The community played another significant role for Jess. She even took up as an RA at some of the apartments which was important to her not to just be part of the soccer community, but to experience the other communities at school like housing and other students.
"It made for great memories. The professors were another part that really had an impact on me. I still talk to two or three of them and check in with them."
Miclat mentioned the academic side that was big in her decision. She admits that she even to this day makes career changes on an almost monthly basis. At UCI, she switched majors a few times, but landed in public health policy got a lot of help navigating what she can do after soccer from her advisor.
"I know soccer isn't the end-all-be-all for me, and she helped me see my career beyond soccer and I'm forever grateful to UC Irvine and my advisors."
After four seasons and a public health policy degree, the next stage of her career came into view – playing professionally. The pro circuit was always in the plans for Miclat, which the coaching staff was aware, the question was does that take place in the U.S. or overseas.
"It was a dream of mine to play professionally anywhere, but in the back of my mind I had always wanted to travel and still do what I love so that was my main goal."
The professional draft process is tough with so many talented players and so little options in the states. Right around the time Miclat threw her name in the ring, COVID-19 became another obstacle which briefly derailed any plans and stuck her at home for six months leaving her to think if soccer was still the plan.
"There's so many ups and downs, it's really hard to stick with it unless you truly like it and want to keep playing. Luckily, I got a contract in January to play in Denmark through my agent and the support of the coaching staff and UCI."
Aalborg, Denmark, the fourth-largest town in the country of just over 100,000 people, but on the northern end of the country closer to Norway and Sweden than the country's capital, Copenhagen. She arrived for part of the 2020-21 season and appeared in five matches for AaB in Denmark's top division.
Jess mentioned she's had terrible luck with her visas between this club and her time at her next club in Cyprus – between getting deported, held in immigration, even now with her current club, Eskilstuna United in Sweden just outside of Stockholm.
"I got approved for my visa, but it got sent back home so I'm still waiting for that and once I get it, I'd like to travel more around Europe, but I have to stay in Sweden until that gets figured out."
The big story has been her international experience. Miclat and her family and half Filipino and half Mexican. Her father came over from the Philippines when he was eight and her mom was very young when she emigrated from Mexico.
"For the most part, they are Americanized, so me and my siblings don't speak any of the languages fluently, but we grew up with the customs and traditions from each. I'm grateful for that and think different cultures bring people together. Especially now that I'm traveling to all these places, I meet so many people and it's crazy how small of a world it is and how much you have in common with people."
Growing up in Southern California, Miclat played within the U.S. youth soccer system and even had runs with the under-18 and under-20 U.S. national teams. At the same time, she was going to camps with the Philippines team which was actually fully formed in California and did all of its training nearby, fortunate for Miclat.
"With the Philippines, I had always been involved with them since around age 13. I couldn't really attend their big tournaments mostly because of college but joined them a lot more after graduating."
There was also an option to tryout with the Mexican National Team because of her mother's side, but it was never fully explored.
The Philippines National Team continued to be an option with Miclat released to train while at UC Irvine and eventually playing with the senior team when World Cup Qualifiers started up in 2018.
The squad really got serious when the all-Australian staff took over. Their mentality was to play more games against other countries and not just scrimmages against California club teams; something Miclat was able to take part in once she finished her college career. Other Southern California natives and collegiate players were in the same boat as Jess like Sarina Bolden who played at LMU and Quinley Quezada at UC Riverside, and all have gotten flack for not being native Filipinos.
The 2018 qualifier in Jordan was the first international cap for Miclat, and the first time going to the Philippines and training there for her and others from Southern California.
"It was the same for most of us because we're born here in California. Most people have given us flack for that, but it's the same dynamic with most national teams, and we're still Filipino and still represent the country."
The qualifying rounds took Miclat and the Filipinas, the nickname of the women's national football team, to Uzbekistan in 2021 which they barely snuck out of to earn a spot in the AFC Women's Asian Cup that serves as the qualifying tournament for the Women's World Cup. The coaching staff flipped right after the stage in Uzbekistan which set the team back just a bit, but Miclat said it put the squad in a spot they relished.
"Going into the final qualifiers as the underdogs like we always are, the group that we had was tough and able to win games. The first match we had was our most important against Thailand."
Even going into that match, Miclat wasn't sure what her role was going to be because of her late arrival to training camp. With COVID still in full effect, Miclat was forced to step up with some of her teammates catching COVID ahead of the Thailand match.
"I played well in that game, and it set me up to start and play in every match the rest of the way consistently. It was already a long month-and-a-half added to avoiding COVID, testing all the time, but we took it one game at a time."
Jess even got to go toe-to-toe with Australia, one of the best national team in the world, a game she was looking forward to; playing against some of the best players in the world including Sam Kerr, someone Jess admitted she snuck a selfie with to avoid fangirling.
"It was a great chance to test yourself against them and learn about yourself. I got my first goal and assist in the tournament which is still a major feat for me and took me by surprise." She was so surprised she forgot to even celebrate.
It all came down to the knockout game that would send Miclat and the Filipinas to the World Cup; about as nerve-wracking as you could get. They held the lead through most of the match, but Chinese Taipei equalized in the last minute. In extra time, the exhaustion was mentally draining everyone, especially in the climate in India that whole tournament, but the Filipinas survived, went to the penalty shootout, and the rest was history.
"We were all on cloud 9 and dreaming and very emotional for everyone; indescribable to be part of something that not a lot of people can say they can do and represent our country on the biggest stage and set the stage for future generations, and not only for us but other countries like the Philippines."
The magical ride has been bumpy for Jess since then on strained terms with the team. Miclat played in three friendlies during the rest of 2022 including training in October to play against Costa Rica, but that was the last time she was invited to train with the Philippines. She's put a lot of time and effort into her professional career and her current club in Sweden, but she's stayed in the right frame of mind with the World Cup rosters set to be announced within the next month.
"I'm hopeful and confident in my ability that I'll get a chance to compete and be on the World Cup roster, but I understand some things are out of my control and ultimately, it's the coaches' decision and I have to respect it. Right now, I'm on this club and good to be in an environment where I'm constantly training and playing against top teams in Sweden. If I do well here and make my mark, hopefully it will show the coaches I'm making an impact and help them decide to include me and make an impact with the Philippines."
Miclat understands that her play helped the Philippines do what they did in qualifiers to earn that first-ever spot in the big tournament for the country. The team has seen their international rank rise consistently since Miclat's first cap in 2018 when the Philippines were 74th in the world to its No. 49 rank it stands at today. With pre-camp coming up this month in Australia, Miclat is hopeful she will be part of that with the World Cup and roster selection right around the corner.
"I know a lot of people see I helped them get there, but I know there's a lot of things behind the scenes that I don't know about that could change things, but I'm just staying hopeful and confident and will always support the Philippines in any capacity whether I'm on the roster or not."
Going on three months in Sweden now, she's starting to stick in with the club with 12 matches under her belt including her first goal professional goal in the domestic cup, and the club middle of the table of Sweden's top league. The weather out of the start was nothing like California with weather below zero when she first arrived, something she doesn't mind, but practices routinely canceled with not enough time to plow snow from the fields were not ideal. She's been able to bond with other Americans in the club and branch out and meeting other people and cultures in her global soccer travels.
With professional and international soccer in full swing, Miclat still had her future in the front of her mind, and her UC Irvine education always driving her next move.
"I want to get into hospital administration, the policy side of things. My last year at UCI, I worked at the medical center in the HR department which was more working with physician burnout and how to decrease that since it's so high nowadays and trying to incorporate that and other things within the office in places like that."
The burnout of relocating, balancing her training for multiple clubs and squads, is something Miclat feels she has some experience in right now on top of the first-hand experience in the hospital administration side of things. Jess is the first one to admit her occupation changes with every show she streams, however.
"Whatever I'm watching on Netflix is my new venture. One day I'm watching a cooking show and telling my parents I want to go to culinary school, and then the next day I watch this show on flame blowing and I want to do that so it's ever evolving, and I'll stick to soccer for now."
